Polls

Which gubernatorial candidate is running the most effective online campaign?

  • Bradley Byrne (33%, 80 Votes)
  • Artur Davis (28%, 67 Votes)
  • Tim James (20%, 47 Votes)
  • Bill Johnson (9%, 22 Votes)
  • Ron Sparks (6%, 14 Votes)
  • Roy Moore (2%, 4 Votes)
  • Robert Bentley (1%, 3 Votes)
  • Kay Ivey (1%, 2 Votes)
  • James Potts (0%, 1 Votes)

Total Voters: 241

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Blog Rating

Average blog rating:

9.4

What I’m Voting FOR

I saw a comment on Politics 4 All today that got to the heart of what I wanted to say today. The commenter said:

I think there are a lot of people that are looking at this election as a choice between two different lists of downsides. Neither candidate is really giving us much to vote FOR.

Neither candidate is giving us much to vote for? What election have you been watching and who is this “us” he is talking about?

I have a lot to vote FOR in this election. I’m not voting against John McCain and Sarah Palin, I’m voting FOR Barack Obama and Joe Biden.

I’m voting FOR tax cuts for those in the middle of the income range, not just those at the top
I’m FOR having a constitutional law professor making our judicial appointments,
I’m FOR an education policy that not only believes education is the foundation to good jobs in America, but will put the money behind it
I’m FOR an energy policy that wasn’t written by the oil and gas industry
I’m FOR a foreign policy that emphasizes our commonality with other nations, not our differences
I’m FOR ending the war in Iraq sensibly

I can have an intellectual disagreement with someone who is for John McCain, but I can respect their decision. I feel deeply sorry for those who feel like there isn’t a candidate they can be for, though I have been there myself in the past. I encourage those who feel like they are in the position of having to support the lesser of two evils to look to the third party candidates or write-in options, there are ways to make your displeasure known…

Post VP Debate Reaction

Watching NBC…

**Brian Williams calls it “easily, the most anticipated” vice presidential debate

**Chuck Todd says “neither one lived up to their negative stereotypes”, “she was a better surrogate for her top of the ticket than his”.

**Biden and Palin are having a nice chat post-debate…

**Tom Brokaw says “coldest state, hottest governor”…hilarious…

**Brian Williams interviews Geraldine Ferraro…she says she “did a good job”, and thought Joe Biden effectively communicated Democratic policies

**Peggy Noonan says Palin “killed”…Biden and Ifill “weren’t even there” to Palin

My reaction…Palin came in with an agenda and stuck to it. A friend of mine sent a message that said, “I feel like I’m watching Palin play debate bingo…ooo, ooo, I get to use that one…check!”. And that is what it felt like…but she played it well. I don’t think most McCain supporters will care that she didn’t answer the questions. We will see the pendulum of polling swing a little back to McCain as his support balloons again.

The next presidential debate is next week. The town hall will be interesting…we keep marching toward election day.

Live Blogging the Biden-Palin Vice Presidential Debate

7:30pm CST – 30 minutes to showtime…

8:02pm CST – The bailout bill…Biden gives a sound, intelligent answer. And Sarah gives us a similar answer…trying to run away from the Bush record so fast…and gets in a jab at Biden (“his colleagues didn’t listen”).

8:05pm CST – Palin is hitting her points…and Gwen points out that neither candidate answered the question.

8:07pm CST – Palin, “The American people need to band together.” “We need to not live outside our means…personal responsibility.”

8:09pm CST – Palin, “The government is going to have to learn to live with less…if that’s what it takes.” Biden tries to respond to the charges of Obama raising taxes…not sure it was effective.

8:12pm CST – She hasn’t created the moment yet…but this Phil Singer comment seems pretty prescient on her goal coming into tonight.

8:11pm CST – Palin acknowledges she’s not going to answer the moderator’s questions…probably a good move.

8:14pm CST – Sarah is definitely on the attack and Joe is struggling to respond.

8:15pm CST – “The Feds”? Does she realize she wants to be the Vice President of “the feds”?

8:17pm CST – Joe seems to be struggling more than Sarah, and is very much on the defensive.

8:18pm CST – Joe gets in his laugh line…”the ultimate bridge to nowhere”…and he had specifics on what they wouldn’t be able to do because of the economic crisis, but offered little.

8:21pm CST – Gwen confirms that Sarah didn’t offer anything they would have to do differently because of the economic crisis…does that sound a lot like Bush/Cheney to anyone else?

8:23pm CST – A third of the way in and it’s clear that Sarah Palin came in with an agenda that had nothing to do with the questions she was going to be asked and she’s just marching through it.

8:25pm CST – And the ultimate pivot…back to energy…when the question and the discussion between Gwen and Joe had nothing to do with energy! I can see the SNL skit now…Tina Fey saying over and over again, “but let’s talk about energy”.

8:27pm CST – And now Gwen is going to hand her energy questions when that’s all she’s talked about all night? Give me a break…

8:32pm CST – Odd pivot on the moderator’s part from energy to same-sex marriage…being “straight-up”…

8:36pm CST – Now to the Iraq War…Joe seems to be much more in his comfort zone…John McCain has “been dead wrong” and Barack Obama “has been right, those are the facts”

8:43pm CST – Palin was able to say the name of the president of Iran…unlike McCain…let’s tweak the SNL skit to include that…

8:54pm CST – Both candidates got in their strongest hits…Palin says “there have been huge blunders”…Biden says “I haven’t heard how John McCain’s policy is different from George Bush’s.”

8:57pm CST – Palin sticks with her point that the counter-insurgency strategy can work in Afghanistan…Biden lets it go.

8:59pm CST – Biden makes a strong case on Darfur.

9:01pm CST – “The capacity to do anything about it?”…not sure Joe can let that stand without further explanation.

9:03pm CST – 30 minutes to go and Palin seems like she’s running out of gas, while Biden gets more comfortable.

9:05pm CST – Best question so far from Gwen Ifil…not sure Palin will have an answer…You’re a heartbeat away, how would your administration be different from the candidate you are running with?

9:08pm CST – “There you go Joe”…been saving that one…if there’s still a third grader watching this debate, I say god bless that child…”more attention” on education, but no more money

9:13pm CST – Supporting Cheney’s position on the vice presidency not being part of the executive branch?

9:15pm CST – What’s your deficit? And Palin talks about her strengths…theme of the night, she didn’t answer the questions, will it matter?

9:19pm CST – YES! Finally something we can all agree on Sarah…”He is the man who needs to leave“…yes he is.

9:25pm CST – Apparently Sarah’s going to be making appointments as Vice President…

9:28pm CST – “I really enjoying answering the tough questions”…THERE’S the kicker…she spends the whole debate not answering a signle question and then states that she enjoys answering questions.

9:30pm CST – Good closing Joe…not sure what else there is to say.

Post-Debate Reaction

Immediately Post-Debate

**Biden speaks immediately following the debate on NBC, they asked for Palin, but got Rudy (shocking!)
**Rudy thinks Obama got schooled by McCain? Interesting spin…agreement=you don’t really know anything, you’re just copying my answers. On how many of these issues do we really have other options?
**Olberman thinks McCain admitted we have tortured, for the first time. McCain said, “so we make sure that we don’t torture ever, ever again.”

Follow-Up

**Political Wire reports:

During and after the debate, Democracy Corps conducted focus groups among 45 undecided voters in St. Louis, Missouri.

Though these voters “had an unmistakably Republican tilt,” McCain “could only manage a draw among this group. Of our 45 initial undecided voters, a quarter moved to Obama and a quarter to McCain after the debate with the rest remaining undecided. Moreover, by a 38 to 27 percent margin these voters said that Obama won this debate.”

Videos of the focus groups and dial testing will be posted tomorrow.

Meanwhile, Marc Ambinder notes a finding from a Democratic strategist running another focus group: “Whenever Sen. McCain leaned on Obama for being naive and repeated the phrase ‘Sen. Obama doesn’t understand,’ the tracking lines nosedived.”

**Both CNN and CBS polling showed an advantage to Obama

**The Obama campaign sought to lower expectations for the next debate by suggesting that McCain is the unquestioned “master of town halls”