Watching next Tuesday? Let us know!

Will you be watching our coverage at any point next Tuesday? We’d like to make this broadcast as interactive as possible, so I’d like to give a personal hello to everyone watching. If you’ll be watching, let me know. Comment here or send me an E-mail at agoodvoter@gmail.com . Or if you know my personal E-mail, E-mail that.

Let me know who you are, and I’ll be sure to say hello on Tuesday. We’re really looking forward to seeing you!

Obamamercial wrap-up

Obama’s half-hour infomercial has just ended, and the Swing State Series – Florida vs. Pennsylvania – has resumed. The McCain campaign responded with a 30-second ad saying Obama is not ready to lead. Is that the best they can do? Why not go for outright slander? Obama hates puppies?

The half-hour Obama infomercial (Obamamercial?) featured Obama’s always-brilliant speaking ability. As I said in the Twitter feed, Obama has a positively Reaganesque ability to address a giant crowd so that you believe he is talking to you directly.

The structure of the infomercial was to alternate the sometimes tragic personal stories of Americans – Americans from the swing states of Ohio and New Mexico, no less – with Obama’s specific policy proposals on taxes, energy, health care, and defense. It was a return to the theme of the Democratic Convention, and the message was clear – Obama wants you the voter to identify with the people you saw in his videos, and to know that he has clear solutions that apply to your situation.

The message was a bit jumbled – he jumped from a man in Ohio who had just lost his pension straight into energy policy. And I’d question the choice of set – it looked a bit too close to the Oval Office and might turn some voters off.

But overall, I think it was a great success for Obama. We’ll have to wait until about Friday to see whether it has an effect in the polls.

Obamamercial

Tonight, I’ll be watching the Obamamercial on Fox at 8 PM ET, and commenting it on the A Good Voter twitter feed. I’ll post a recap here after the show also. Hope you’re able to watch it also!

One week to go!

Just one week to go until the election! I’ll be meeting with our Technical Director, Sebastien, tomorrow to talk about what the broadcast schedule will be. Stay tuned for a post about that tomorrow, plus a preview of what to watch for on Election Night later in the week.

Something lighter for the weekend.

All right, it’s a Saturday and the election’s almost upon us. We can have a moment of levity. My dad sent this handy electoral map to me, and I would in turn like to share it with you. Seriously dudes, it’s all about the hair.

Colin Powell endorses Obama

I am watching Colin Powell endorse Obama. This is huge. There have been many rumours about the possibility of this happening, and now here it is. Powell is an icon. People respect him for his service, for his coolheadedness, for his evenhandedness. He is a little like how McCain was before he went into this campaign – for him to endorse Obama, after serving his country honourably, is huge.

Powell raises the right points – against polarisation, for inclusion of all that America stands for, not just the small town white males. He makes the case for Obama on the best grounds – what is best for the country?

More later, but this needed immediate posting.

Reversing opinion

At the end of last night’s broadcast, I declared the debate a mild victory for McCain. I had thought McCain scored points by bringing up Joe the Plumber – it’s the type of story that ordinarily connects with voters. Ronald Reagan in 1980 would done brilliantly with that story. But in 2008, voters don’t seem to buy it – Opinion Research’s poll showed that a large majority of undecided voters felt Obama won the debate, spent less time attacking, and was more likable. In addition to not buying the Joe the Plumber story, voters seemed to be bothered by McCain’s body language, much as people were bothered by Al Gore sighing during a debate in 2000.

Therefore, I now declare the debate to be a mild Obama victory. It was McCain’s strongest debate performance, but Obama was just a bit stronger. So the debate record now stands at Democrats 3, Republicans 0, Ties 1.

The debates are over, and there are no more opportunities for both candidates to display themselves before a large national audience before Election Night. Barring major unforseen events, Obama will win this election.

Live tonight!

We’ll be live on air tonight at 8:45 PM ET with the Presidential Debate preview show. See you then!

 

Go to live coverage

The man behind the “Obama is a secret Muslim” E-mails

There is an excellent article in today’s New York Times about the man who first posted the false rumors that Barack Obama is a Muslim. The rumor was first posted on the ultra-conservative website The Free Republic in 2004. A documentary on Fox News has revealed the writer to be Andy Martin, a constant candidate for public office who has repeatedly filed lawsuits in various states. Martin has made controversial claims insulting to religious grups in the past, once filing a legal motion accusing a judge of being ““a crooked, slimy Jew who has a history of lying and thieving common to members of his race.”

What’s most interesting about this man and his E-mail forwards is that, in spite of there being nothing factual about these forwarded, 10 to 15 percent of those polled in various polls say that they believe them. It’s a symbol of how the Internet has changed how we share information, and not always in a good way.

I want my money back

As always, the full video and transcript of the debate is available at the Washington Post Election website. I watched and Twittered the debate last night.

The town hall debate was supposed to be the most exciting and unpredictable format of the election season. Instead, it turned out to be the most boring. Both candidates came out flat – this was particularly disappointing for Obama, who has had strong rhetorical moments throughout this election season. McCain sometimes seemed patronizing – at one point saying he bets most voters had never heard of Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac before this election – and sometimes seemed to really connect with the individual voters who asked the questions.

In terms of the issues, health care came up for the first time. Obama initially struggled to explain his plan, but later laid it out clearly. I was surprised to hear McCain not specifying details of his own plan. Overall, McCain was stronger discussing the economy than he was in the first debate, and strong as ever discussing foreign policy.

Most pundits are now declaring an Obama victory in the debate, while I see it as a draw. This is particularly confusing since most pundits declared the first debate as a draw, while I saw it as a clear Obama victory. Are we all watching the same debate?