Tag: Debate

The Thursday Night Debates

Tonight, Joe Biden showed the Democrats do have a story to tell. In my opinion (reinforced by most of the snap polls) Biden won the debate, even after subtracting for his goofy grin and interrupting.

If President Obama can be aggressive and relatable, as Biden was, he can change minds. Is he capable of that? I’m no longer sure.

A few weeks ago it looked like a done deal. Now it does not.

I watched two debates tonight. First up was the Connecticut Senate debate, which we aired on FoxCT.

Too close to home. I’ll leave the candidates unjudged by me.

If they didn’t hate each before, the certainly do now. Ouch.

I knew some of the people onstage. Al Terzi, Laurie Perez and Chris Keating all work with me at FoxCT/Hartford Courant. That adds an interesting twist to my viewing.

They’re my friends. I want them to do well.

They did.

On to the Veep Debate. I thought Martha Raddatz from ABC News did a great job. Having both candidates in close proximity is the way to go. All debates should be staged that way.

After the first presidential debate I hung my head in shame. I, along with everyone else, though President Obama did a terrible job. That debate still could cause the Democrats to lose the White House. I said it then. Little has happened in the interim to sway hearts.

Tonight, Joe Biden showed the Democrats do have a story to tell. In my opinion (reinforced by most of the snap polls) Biden won the debate, even after subtracting for his goofy grin and interrupting.

Vice Presidential debates seldom change things. Remember, the guy who said, “You’re no Jack Kennedy,” lost.

If President Obama can be aggressive and relatable, as Biden was, he can change minds. Is he capable of that? I’m no longer sure.

A few weeks ago reelection looked like a done deal. Now I’m not so sure.

What Twitter Told Me About Tonight’s Debate

For the whole time I watched there were no debate oriented tweets in this area!

I watched most of the senatorial debate between Linda McMahon and Dick Blumenthal. Because I work in the studio part of the time I had to have the volume turned down. I opened up two Twitter windows to help keep up and was surprised at what I saw.

In one window I had my standard ‘every tweet within 15 miles of the TV station’ search.&#185 In the other I filtered for a few words that would surely bring debate comments.

Both columns scrolled rapidly as the debate wore on, but only the ‘filtered word search’ window had debate action. For the whole time I watched there were no debate oriented tweets in this area!

I am surprised… maybe a little disappointed too.

&#185 – Not everyone lets Twitter know where they are so this isn’t the total view of every tweet near New Haven. It’s the best I could do with what’s available.