Each side claims victory in debate

September 28, 2008

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In the wake of the first square-off between US presidential contenders John McCain and Barack Obama, a furious argument has begun about who won the debate.

The campaigns have gone into overdrive in an effort to influence the public perception of who triumphed in Friday’s encounter.

The Obama campaign worked overnight to release, early on Saturday morning, an advertisement criticising Senator McCain for failing to say middle class.

It was unclear whether Senator Obama’s campaign was spending money to broadcast the spot, or whether it was directed more at the opinion leaders who would be appearing on the morning talk shows yesterday or writing about the debate in their columns for the next few days.

The McCain campaign had already released an internet video citing several instances in which Senator Obama had said he agreed with his rival’s positions.

There were also instances where Senator Obama claimed otherwise.

Was Obama claiming correctly when he said McCain was wrong?

Here is a video put together by Jed Lewison for our friends at The Huffington Post:

Obama spoke with greater clarity and force.
He was collected and knowledgeable and put issues in a larger context of America’s role in the world.

Numerous times McCain lit into Obama on foreign policy issues with comments such as:

“what Senator Obama doesn’t seem to understand…”

and saying he was “naive” on those issues.

But Obama won big on those foreign policy arguments. Especially on Iraq and Afghanistan, tapping deeply into misgivings about the wars, and questions of strategy and tactics and ultimately prevailing on the key question on judgment as to whether Iraq should have been fought in the first place.

The three presidential debates in this final 40 days of the US presidential campaign are critical in persuading undecided voters and give a rare opportunity for candidates to present themselves in a format longer than the sound bite or a 30-second advertisement.
Roughly one-third of all US households tuned in.

But there is a belief that many viewers base their judgment not on debate performance but on what they read and see in the days afterwards.

A majority of US commentators called it a narrow win to the Democratic candidate because the 47-year-old first-term senator held his own against the five-term 72-year-old Republican who is well known for his foreign policy expertise, the debate’s topic.

Time magazine’s Joe Klein wrote:

“Towards the very end of tonight’s debate, which was quite a good one, I believe John McCain laid out his rationale in this election in just a few words: Senator Obama, he said, lacks the ‘knowledge and experience to be president’. The presidency will turn on whether the American people agree with McCain on that - but on this night, Obama emerged as a candidate who was at least as knowledgeable, judicious and unflappable as McCain on foreign policy.”

But the website Politico.com and the Wall Street Journal gave it to Senator McCain, arguing that if no leeway was given to Senator Obama’s rookie status, Senator McCain was more sure-footed on foreign affairs.

CNN tried to measure it with a poll taken straight after the debate. According to its survey, 51 per cent of those polled thought Senator Obama did the better job, while 38 per cent said Senator McCain did better.
Women voters tended to give Senator Obama higher marks.

Mostly the candidates declined the moderator’s offer to attack each other, and CNN’s audience tracking device, “the worm”, turned down any time either candidate was unduly combative.

Back on the campaign trail in Virginia on Saturday, an energised Senator Obama used Senator McCain’s answers on the economy and his failure to address the struggle facing the middle class to hammer his opponent.

Senator Obama said:

“In 90 minutes, John McCain had a lot to say about me but had nothing to say about you,”

The next debate, between the vice-presidential candidates Joe Biden and Sarah Palin on Thursday night, is being eagerly awaited because it will be the first time Mrs Palin has appeared in such a forum.