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Born at the Crest of the Empire

Thursday, October 02, 2008

First response?

I'm not a good judge of this. My first impressions are very different from what I'm hearing on my TV. (The heads and the CNN focus group seem to be giving it all to Biden... all to Biden. Wait for the snap polls.)

Help me. What did you think?

CNN snap poll: Biden 51/Palin 368. (Not weighted for party.)

And Palin went from 42 to only 46 on "ready to be President."

CBS snap poll: Uncommitted voters Biden 46/Palin 21/Draw 33.

Before the debate, 79% thought Biden was "knowledgeable," after the debate 98% had that opinion.

Later: The quick consensus seems to be that Palin did well for the base, but didn't reach any new voters. So, the race is likely unchanged.

The House votes on the bailout bill tomorrow, so back to the economy. Nothing huge, so this will all likely be vapor.

12 Comments:

  • She kept playing the main street mom card. And maverick, maverick, maverick. Biden stayed focussed and above it. He won I'd say.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 10:03 PM  

  • That seems to be the general impression.

    I though she gave a good impression on the domestic issues, and Biden won the foreign policy bit, and Biden closed stronger, but that's so far from what all the "experts" are saying, I grew embarrassed and pulled it off the front page.

    Biden won among the xperts and won big among the CNN focus group.

    I just have no idea.

    By Blogger mikevotes, at 10:11 PM  

  • I've found the kos analysis to capture what I felt. In short he said, Palin won. It's easy to do when you state outright that you'll ignore questions and say whatever you want. It was like a doll with a pull string..."maverick"..."hockey mom"...ugh. Biden wins on substance.

    By Blogger zen, at 10:14 PM  

  • That's kinda what I thought. I thought Palin won the first bit, Biden edged foreign policy and Biden finished stronger. I woulda called it a draw.

    But, maybe, thankfully, other people are alot smarter than me.

    (And i'm not saying she won on points, but on impressions.

    Of course, her negative came across as way too negative to me.)

    By Blogger mikevotes, at 10:17 PM  

  • My wife was annoyed by Palin. She absolutely HATED the folksiness. Thought it was phony and patronizing. She thought Palin didn't answer the questions, jabbered way too fast, and didn't make much sense.... reminded her of our daughter when our daughter's trying to convince us she didn't do anything wrong but she really did.

    On the other hand, my wife really liked Biden. She felt he was authentic, spoke clearly and directly and answered the questions. Being the soft touch that she is, she teared up a little when Biden was talking about his family.

    My wife -- God lover her -- is really a low-info voter. High school education, mother of five, and in her mid-forties. She has no interest in politics. This is the first time she's hear either Biden or Palin. Yes, she's a progressive, but she didn't know the biographies of either of the candidates. In fact -- and I'm embarrassed to admit this -- she didn't know who these people were when they took the stage.

    Is she a barometer of her demographic? I don't know. But I think perhaps in this: she, as a woman, was almost offended with Palin's folksy charm and negative tone (at times). So I don't think this is a game changer. At best Palin may have plugged the hissing discontent among the intellectual conservative wing of the Republican party, who were beginning to turn on her. For now at least.

    Now, it's back in the box.

    As for me... I spent most of the evening apologizing for my profane outburst. I thought each candidate did (or didn't do) what they needed to. On balance I think Biden did better at achieving his goal, which was to not make Palin a sympathetic figure and not to say anything stupid. Palin could have been a bit more composed and a little less beauty pageant in her responses.

    By Blogger -epm, at 10:18 PM  

  • CNN ran that feedback thing again, this time men/women. Women really liked Biden and were sizably more negative towards Palin.

    Overall, women have been more negative towards Palin. (And this was Palin's one big window to many of those low info women voters.

    And, other than the yelling, your response seems to be about the consensus.

    (Are you going to pick up the Biden verbal tick "God love her?" It's kinda charming.)

    By Blogger mikevotes, at 10:23 PM  

  • You know, that "God love her" just subliminally popped into my head. I almost deleted it because, you know... but then I figured "What the hell" and left it in in the spirit of the debate.

    By Blogger -epm, at 10:27 PM  

  • I think it's kinda cute if not overused.

    By Blogger mikevotes, at 10:30 PM  

  • What kind of fits would we be hearing if hillary winked at us?

    I think it IS patriotic to pay taxes as an American. Am I really wrong? it's patriotic to question why others are not paying their share...I would have liked to see Biden hit that comment of hers harder...esp since some GOP want to question Obama's (Mr and Mrs) patriotism...

    clearly Biden destroyed mccain's maverick handle, not supporting troops claim and tax increase on those earning over $42K. I didn't hear anything she said that connected on Obama (that was actually true). I loveed hearing Biden ask her to convince mccain on windfall-profit taxes.

    she seemed to do best when describing a mccain who actually doesn't exist...

    she has to stop saying ya instead of you - her folksy-ism comes over hard as fake.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 10:31 PM  

  • One of the commentators on PBS regarding Palin:

    "It'll be interesting to see if viewers saw her as refreshingly Reaganesque, or just 'Gidget Goes To Washington'"

    By Blogger -epm, at 10:32 PM  

  • Anon, good point.

    That Biden attack on McCain's maverick is valuable because it's tight and will get replay.

    And, we all like the McCain who doesn't exist... (Sorry.)

    And, there was some circumstantial awhile back that the McCain folks were encouraguing that kinda talk. She suddenly started dropping her "g"'s (fightin') and the lilt in her accent has gone way up.

    ......

    EPM, The first response from everyone but Republicans seems to be the latter. I don't know.

    By Blogger mikevotes, at 10:39 PM  

  • ************

    I'm going to bed. More tomorrow I'm sure.

    *************

    By Blogger mikevotes, at 10:50 PM  

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