Last night two American men threw on dark suits, bold ties and thick makeup and flew to Ol’ Miss. After watching and reading all the other pundits wavier and the winner, I felt it was time to dust off the ol’ blog and box up the debate for all of you.
Q: Who was the winner?
A: What do you mean when you say winner? Everyone seems to think debates are 3 rounds in an octagon and one guy will come out with cauliflower ears and a concussion and the other guy will jump and scream as the ref raises his hands. Debates may be pugilistic, but there's rarely a nock out or even a winner by points.
Q: How did the debate play with different demographics?
18-25: Barak won the 18-25 segment solidly, his bold disregard for the experience of his elder showed he was ready to throw off the old guard and bring new vitality to Washington. He also expressed the most ideas and philosophy, key to winning the young idealists. McCain's comfortable grandfather appearance may have helped with some, but most likely none of them were undecided.
25+: McCain knocked it out of the park with this group. He clearly demonstrated his age hasn't affected his vitality and time after time hit Obama with the experience punch and all Obama could do is mutter about how these ideals didn't work, the B.O. spin seemed to be "McCain's ideas don't work, and well I'm the only other guy on the ballet so you'll have to vote for me."
35+: Obama flat out lost in this group. He often appeared like an upset kid in an argument with his dad about staying out too late. The way he made his point after interrupting J.M. often appeared disrespectful and impetuous. This may have won him votes with the young kids, but I'm sure it turned off the older segments of the population.
Men: Toss up.
McCain is the old vet in the pitching rotation that has a curve that'll make anyone miss and a knuckle ball from your least preferred eternal destination but came up short in the theory category. It's pretty clear McCain isn't an idea loge but a pragmatist with conservative tendencies.
Obama clearly understands his governmental theory and this will help with the thinking types, but he's bitten on a J.M. trap. He is no longer for generic change as he was earlier in the year when he was the darling of the U.S. of A. but is now openly advocating socialism as an alternative to our current system.
Women: McCain in 25+ a toss up under 25.
Obama wasn't charming and lacked emotion except for the few moments he let frustration crack through his thick layer of T.V. makeup. He delivered a good performance to the younger voters so I think it’s a tossup under 25.
McCain showed strong emotion when he talked about fixing our economy, keeping us safe and the perils facing us if B.O. is elected. Showing that he cares, but still is strong will play very well in the long term with this demographic.
In summation, I don't think many undecided voters are now decided. Both candidates had performances that played well to their base. However I think J.M. made subtle inroads into the choice that undecided voters will make and in the long run will be the winner from last nights debate.