John Berman has been at ABC since 1995, and allowed to appear on television since 2001. He covered the 2008 campaign extensively, following John McCain and Mitt Romney during the primaries and then Barack Obama in the general election. He also spent more than 20 months chasing George W. Bush around the country as a producer from 1999 until 2001, earning the clever nickname, "Pain in the Ass," from our 43rd president. He is a frequent and sometimes welcome contributor to all of ABC's broadcasts.
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LIVE DEBATE BLOG
October 07, 2008 9:03 PM
That's it for tonight folks -- two down, just one to go. Check back for more analysis tomorrow morning, as always, in The Note.
9:28 pm CT: Before the dizzying spin begins -- I find it hard to declare a winner. Tie goes to the frontrunner, perhaps, in the conventional wisdom? I don't see McCain hitting things that shake it all up.
9:27 pm CT: From Ron Claiborne: For those who care about debate style: Obama watches McCain raptly whenever McCain speaks. McCain again is having a hard time looking at Obama when he speaks.
9:25 pm CT: McCain makes actual physical contact with an actual real-life voter.
9:23 pm CT: Why do politicians like saying "petrodollars"? And who cares whether candidates think Russia is an "evil empire"? Red Sox fans think the Yankees are an evil empire -- and, as it pains me to point out, the Yanks haven't won in a while.
9:17 pm CT: I'm not seeing any big breakthrough moments -- McCain is better relating to the audience, but Obama is having what qualifies as emotional connections. Maybe it's the format -- but I'm not seeing anything that changes any trajectories so far. (Anyone else ready for this format to be retired?)
9:14 pm CT: From a colleague: No winners in this debate. But there is one loser…Tom Brokaw. What is he doing here?
My take -- he's enforcing silly rules, or trying to. Then asking follow-ups that tend toward less light, not more.
Watch for this line from GOP mouths -- this wasn't a "real" town hall, and that's why McCain didn't "win."
9:12 pm CT: Getting some e-mails on something I missed earlier -- McCain didn't really engage on the "sacrifice" question, while Obama did, evoking the post-9/11 period.
9:11 pm CT: Then McCain attacks Obama for being a hawk -- "Sen. Obama likes to talk loudly."
9:10 pm CT: "We will kill bin Laden, we will crush al Qaeda." Those were Obama's lines.
9:08 pm CT: I can't imagine a single voter caring about the debate that just played out on Iraq. Not that it's unimportant, just that it's played out.
9:06 pm CT: The word "Ayers" has not been uttered tonight. Neither has the word "Keating."
9:05 pm CT: A friend who's keeping track notes that, more than an hour in, there have been six questions from people in the auditorium. Six.
9:03 pm CT: ABC's Ron Claiborne, on the "That One" line: "Tonally, seemed dismissive, maybe even contemptuous. It could provide Obama camp with an opportunity to onsinuate more than that, even racially-charged, a version of the phrase "you people." Obama press people quickly noted it in e-mail to reporters."
They did. One Obama supporter e-mails me to call it his "get off my lawn" moment.
9:02 pm CT: Obama finds a good stride talking about McCain's "wrong judgment." This was one of his better moments at the first debate, too.
Also, John McCain is taking a lot of notes. Seems like he's scribbling something every time the camera cuts to him.
8:59 pm CT: McCain: "America is the greatest force for good . . . " I don't think many listeners would disagree. I don't know, I legitimately don't, whether people want to hear about it at this precarious time. Maybe McCain is onto something -- it reminds me of Romney at his best in the primaries. But it does muddle a bit the I'm-not-Bush message.
8:58 pm CT: Don't hate on Delaware -- that's where Biden's from . . .
8:56 pm CT: An emotional connection, by Sen. Obama, on healthcare -- talking about his mother's struggles with insurers toward the end.
8:55 pm CT: Is health care a privilege, a right, or a responsibility, Brokaw asks. And America answers: Who cares? I just want to make sure I have it, for less money.
8:53 pm CT: In the un-green race to pass out as much paper as possible, the McCain campaign is destroying the Obama campaign once again. Aides scurry about handing out paper copies of the press releases every reporter gets via e-mail, several times over, usually. No Obama paper, as in the previous debates.
8:50 pm CT: Should healthcare be treated as a commodity? Obama talks about what an important and vital issue this all is -- and then . . . waiting . . . waiting . . . waiting. "We have a moral commitment as well as an economic imperative to do something . . . " This might have been a good opportunity to score on an emotional level, not a policy one.
"Do the math," McCain says on his healthcare plan. (Because he didn't right there.)
8:48 pm CT: Who voted for it? "That one!" McCain said, pointing, with that weird smile he sometimes cracks.
8:46 pm CT: Brokaw a stickler for the rules -- how much time being wasted trying to enforce them, though? Enough for an extra question?
8:43 pm CT: Almost halfway in, it's McCain attacking -- with a smile. He's the happy warrior so far, trying to stay optimistic while drawing the distinctions he needs to. No big game-changers yet, though.
8:42 pm CT: McCain calls for an up-or-down vote on entitlement reform. Sounds like something real there.
McCain: "Sen. Obama voted 94 times" to raise taxes. "That's his record." That's a laughable charge and McCain knows it.
8:41 pm CT: From ABC's Bret Hovell: McCain continues to attack Obama in almost every answer and Obama either responds or, sometimes, doesn't. But Obama's not putting McCain on the defensive at any point.
8:39 pm CT: Meanwhile, are all these questions turning into an argument over who's going to raise your taxes?
8:38 pm CT: Obama can tell tired jokes too: "The Straight Talk Express lost a wheel on that one."
8:37 pm CT: Brokaw slaps down Obama's attempt at a follow-up to the follow-up.
8:35 pm CT: Obama's tax proposals "like nailing Jell-O to the wall." I haven't tried, but that would sound difficult. Cute line. Then the meat -- Obama's tax hike is a hike on small businesses. "I've got some news, Sen. Obama -- the economy is bad."
(Waiting for the oppo research that points out McCain saying the "fundamentals of our economy are strong.")
More from the rah-rah McCain: "Let's not raise anybody's taxes."
8:33 pm CT: Obama raises the "revenue side," gingerly. That means taxes. He's engaging on the issue here, to his credit on an intellectual level. This is a key bridge for him to build -- he needs voters who are hearing a whole lot about his tax hikes to think about this as leveling the playing field, not making people empty their pockets.
"Those of us like myself and Sen. McCain who don't need help" -- that's similar to a Kerry line in 2004.
8:29 pm CT: McCain doesn't get real specific on cuts either -- in fact, tonight he just proposed a new spending program inside the Treasury department at the same time he's talking about his "spending freeze." Did you feel that thaw? By the McCain campaign's own count, this new program would cost $300 billion. With a B.
"We're not rifle shots here. We're Americans!" McCain says. (Sorry, but this one seems forced.)
8:25 pm CT: "We're going to have to prioritize," Obama says. Top of the list is energy, and energy independence. "And we can do it." Health care grabs No. 2. Then No. 3 is education. But wasn't the point of the question what you can't have?
8:23 pm CT: ABC's Bret Hovell points out that that is indeed a new McCain proposal: To have the Treasury department have the ability to buy up struggling home loan mortgages and renegotiate them at the new value of the home so that people can make their payments.
An intriguing debate tactic, to have that in his hip pocket.
But, from ABC's Ron Claiborne: How is this different than his HOME program to buy up subprime mortgages taken out since 2005 by "credit worthy' homnowners facing foreclosure and give them a new loan, fixed, based on current home value? He says 400,000 people would be eligible for that. Is he saying now -- can we infer -- he's talking about ALL troubled loans, a much bigger program? If so, that would be a change from his position last spring when he said people who got in over their heads and shouldve known better and speculators shouldn't be helped.
8:20 pm CT: Again, that would be McCain saying a voter's name, instead of starting an answer, "well, look." For what it's worth. And McCain calls out for bipartisanship -- this is reaching to the center, really a key goal of his tonight. Your contrast: Obama blamed George Bush, McCain said bipartisanship. WAIT -- spoke too soon -- this was really to set up a he's-a-liberal attack.
8:19 pm CT: Obama says there's "blame to go around," and then applies it in one direction. "Sen. McCain voted for four out of five of those George Bush budgets," he says. (That was an unprovoked jab, it seems.) Then comes more laundry list out of Obama, nothing really outstanding there.
8:18 pm CT: So far, both are playing populist cards. In the early discussion on the economy, I don't see either one distinguishing himself on the big question of the moment.
8:17 pm CT: Obama says he wants to "change the culture in Washington." That and other bromides are sure to fix everything, right?
8:14 pm CT: Obama needs to correct McCain's statements, "not surprisingly." (Was that necessary?) But he's not staying above the fray -- this isn't above-it-all Obama tonight early on.
8:11 pm CT: Now both candidates are touting the bailout package. (And why is McCain still talking about how he suspended his campaign for this.)
First attack -- Senator Obama and his friends, and his cronies, who defended Fannie and Freddie. This one is a bank shot, sort of hard to explain (lots of meanwhiles). But it looks like McCain is jumping at opportunities tonight, even when they're not directly offered. "Others took a hike," McCain says.
And -- McCain right up in voters' faces. Really moving in close.
8:08 pm CT: "Not you, Tom." (What did Brokaw do to deserve that dig?) McCain drives the right NUTS by mentioning Warren Buffet for treasury secretary. (They'll be much happier about Meg Whitman.)
Obama: "Warren would be a pretty good choice." So far, the Sage of Omaha is winning the debate.
ABC's Jennifer Parker points out that McCain is mentioning voters' names -- strong connections with the audience.
8:07 pm CT: McCain is roaming the stage, playing to his strength. And comes out with a policy proposal to help people stay in their homes -- a strong lead answer, to have a meaty response to that. McCain looks confident early.
8:06 pm CT: McCain: "Sen. Obama, good to be with you at a town hall meeting." Took approximately two sentences for the first dig.
8:04 pm CT: Obama leads off -- "worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, and a lot of you, Ithink are worried." He looks back from the beginning -- "final verdict" on Bush-era policies. But he was asked about what to do next -- and leads with the bailout package. (I didn't think either of them would want to tout that tonight.)
But Obama is the first to talk about tax cuts tonight -- will be interested to see how McCain hits back on that point. He also says "middle class" first.
8:02 pm CT: John McCain quick to make eye contact from the start -- he won't want that storyline to repeat itself.
October 7, 2008 | Permalink | User Comments (480)
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interesting
Posted by: Abel Lopez, Jr. | Oct 7, 2008 9:05:56 PM
Obama didn't answer the queston.
Posted by: geevill | Oct 7, 2008 9:06:20 PM
Please get these guys to answer the QUESTIONS IN THIS TOWN HALL MEETING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Posted by: Terry Kendrick | Oct 7, 2008 9:09:22 PM
Obama evades the question again
Posted by: geevill | Oct 7, 2008 9:10:38 PM
Interesting that McCain mention wall street corruption, oh forget to mention he was a part of that.
Posted by: J | Oct 7, 2008 9:11:25 PM
when will they answer the question and not blame each other
Posted by: David | Oct 7, 2008 9:11:29 PM
why should housing prices be stabilized? Lower home prices amke for more affordable housing. Lower home prices make homes easier to purchase with LOWER payments. Lower house prices are desirable, just as are lower prices are desirable for goods sold at walmart, and more affordable health care.. Capitalism is supposed to lead to higher productivity and lower prices for goods and services, so why do we want higher home prices??
Posted by: Hyubso | Oct 7, 2008 9:12:35 PM
Obama Never answers any question, just talks around it.
Posted by: James Hatten | Oct 7, 2008 9:13:07 PM
Obama always agrees with McCain, I guess he can't think for him self.
Posted by: KT | Oct 7, 2008 9:14:45 PM
Obama already getting his ass kicked
Posted by: geevill | Oct 7, 2008 9:14:56 PM
Oh look. Rick isn't blogging about Obama straying off the queston
Posted by: geevill | Oct 7, 2008 9:16:06 PM
I keep hearing that the middle class need tax cut. What about the people who are below the middle class. I which I made middle class income!
Posted by: becky | Oct 7, 2008 9:16:22 PM
McCain harps on Fannie and Freddie but he has no conception of what he is talking about... The Republican nominee, Mr. McCain of Arizona, has numerous close relationships with and contributions from current and former company lobbyists.
Posted by: Jeffrey | Oct 7, 2008 9:16:39 PM
From the AP article "Palin stretches the truth in campaign"
"What's next, claiming that he didn't know two of his biggest supporters were running Fannie Mae, the subprime mortgage giant?" Palin said. "That has done harm to the American economy."
She referred to Jim Johnson, who chaired Fannie Mae from 1991-1998, and Franklin Raines, his successor who stepped down in 2004 in an accounting scandal.
But Palin exaggerated Obama's ties to Raines and Johnson while omitting any mention of a closer relationship between a top McCain aide and the failed housing giants.
Raines and Johnson support Obama but do not have strong ties to him or his campaign. Johnson briefly headed Obama's vice presidential search last spring but resigned amid controversy over loans he got with help from an executive of Countrywide Financial Corp., a lender damaged by the mortgage meltdown.
Meanwhile, until August, Freddie Mac paid $15,000 a month to a lobbying firm headed by McCain campaign manager Rick Davis. The payment came on top of more than $30,000 a month Davis was paid directly by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac from 2000-2005 to head the Homeownership Alliance, an advocacy group.
Davis has not taken any compensation from his lobbying firm since 2006, the McCain campaign said.
Posted by: J | Oct 7, 2008 9:16:46 PM
Neither one of them is answering the questions. How do you get them to just give the people the answers to their questions?
Posted by: Susan | Oct 7, 2008 9:16:52 PM
I don't like him,
Wear you red !!!!
Posted by: KT | Oct 7, 2008 9:16:55 PM
other countries?
Posted by: geevill | Oct 7, 2008 9:17:08 PM
Obama finally actually answered question! 2 points Obama!!
Posted by: Beverly | Oct 7, 2008 9:17:14 PM
So Obama wrote instead of proposing any meaningful legislation?? Why didn't Obama "jump on a bill" proposing Fannie/Freddie regulations??? Obama tiptoed around the money list because he KNOWS it's true!!
Posted by: fairelection2008 | Oct 7, 2008 9:17:55 PM
Confident about the economy????What world is Obama living in. Some people will not be bale to stay in homes, nor should some of them been in the loans to begin with. Why should we buy up bad loans of people that did not read a contract, or agree to buy a home with no money down, then act like it is owed to them?
Posted by: David | Oct 7, 2008 9:18:20 PM
Cronyism: McCain shame on you:
Two weeks ago MSNBC reported that John McCain's national campaign
general co-chair, former Sen. Phil Gramm, "was being paid by a Swiss
bank to lobby Congress about the U.S. mortgage crisis at the same time
he was advising McCain about his economic policy."
Posted by: Jeffrey | Oct 7, 2008 9:18:30 PM
All they are doing is kissing the American people's butts with their rhetoric and flowery comments. I am sick of that. Please just answer the questions.
Posted by: Susan | Oct 7, 2008 9:18:50 PM
#4-Obama corrects McCain ? Hussein Obama still talks but says nothing !
Posted by: James Hatten | Oct 7, 2008 9:18:54 PM
McCain is taking shots where he has closer relationships with those he is throwing at Obama
typical Grumpy McCain
Posted by: J | Oct 7, 2008 9:19:18 PM
My one big question to Barak Obama is how can he say that he has the answer to the current financial mess when his record as a community leader in Chicago shows that he and ACORN forced many banks to lend money to low and missle income families who could not get loans to buy homes from local banks. And as a result, ACORN and Barak Obama contributes to the sub prime motrage mess. Also ACORN is incolved in voter fraud in 16 states that are battleground states and he voted against many voter reform ills that would have eliminated many of the fradulent practices that ACORN is involved in currently.
Posted by: jannlo | Oct 7, 2008 9:19:51 PM
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