Wednesday Rush/Last Debate

Why did the last presidential debate have to come on a Wednesday? This is the day that I usually work from 12-10pm.

Having enjoyed the previous three debates (counting the VP one, which was -for the first half, at least- the most entertaining), I just can't miss the last one. We are back to podiums and no audience participation (+ to Kerry), and the focus is domestic issues (+ to Kerry). The only real negative for Kerry is that everyone is convinced he is going to knock it out of the park. All Bush has to do to exceed expectations is not roll his eyes.

Some pundits have written this debate off saying people have already made up their minds. I think that is a reasonable assessment, but there are those who believe this to be the pivotal debate. So much hype has surrounded the debates this year that they have taken on a carnival atmosphere. I'll agree that most people who tune in are probably just wanting to see how "their guy" does, but, even so, the performance could impact turn-out Nov. 2.

The race narrowed to a tie after the first debate largely because Bush's poor performance released steam from his base. The opposite happened for Kerry. So even if the majority of people watching are decided, the performance of their candidate could impact how excited they are to stand in line before or after work on election day -and EVERYBODY is in agreement that this election will come down to which side's base is the most motivated to head to the polls.

As for the debate, itself, I'm expecting "tax and spend liberal" to take the place of the previous mantra, "wrong war, wrong time, wrong place"(or whatever). If the state of the American economy hadn't suckified so much in the last four years (7.4 trillion debt/1/2 trillion budget deficit and rising/$2 gas prices), and people's quality of life hadn't noticeably decreased (1.6 million jobs lost/number of uninsured people up 4 million/ number of people living in poverty up more than 1 million), "tax and spend liberal" would certainly be a powerful curse to invoke.

National defense was Bush's strong suit, and he didn't do so hot. When it comes to the economy, he is only lauded by the tiny neocon faithful. Traditional conservatives are just as horrified as liberals at Bush's sprint toward national insolvency. Mebbe if Dick Cheney got another tax cut, it would make it all better?