Just something to make these debates (or joint press conferences) bearable and watchable. The Democrat drinking game will come soon.

Barack Obama and John McCain at the first presidential debate, September 26, 2008

I honestly don’t know what would’ve been a worse option: watching the boring claptrap that was the presidential debate or becoming enraged viewing the Mets game.

The pundits and spinmasters will claim victory for their preferred candidate. (Listening to Rudy Giuliani claim that McCain “won decisively” was good for a laugh, for instance). Yet neither candidate “won” the debate as both men engaged in finger-pointing, repetitiveness, “he-said, she-said” moments, interruptions, and even a bit of maudlin (i.e. the “bracelets” each candidate wears of soldiers fighting in the Middle East).

Speaking of the Middle East, the discussion focused primarily on that region as well as the financial crisis. Latin America was largely shunned except on five minor occasions:

1. McCain claiming that he opposed President Bush on Guantanamo Bay. (He never gave details as to what he objected).
2. Obama teasing McCain over statements made by him last week seemingly opposing Spain’s Prime Minister. (I know Spain is not Latin America, per se, but I’m including it nevertheless).
3. McCain bringing up Obama’s comment that he would meet without preconditions with Hugo Chavez and the Castro regime. (I see the “tease Obama’s primary debate remark on meeting with Hugo Chavez” odds were not far off.)
4. McCain’s brief mentioning of “securing the border” during his closing statement.
5. Obama’s brief mentioning of the Bush administration ignoring regions around the world like Latin America. (You won if you bet on Obama critiquing the “Bush administration for “ignoring” Latin America.”!)

All-in-all, it will be doubtful that too many voters will change their minds due to this debate. The forum sure as hell hasn’t’ swayed mine.

Did you see the debate? What did you think of it?

Original post: There’s about an hour to go before the first presidential debate between John McCain and Barack Obama. We won’t be liveblogging it but our good friends at Vivirlatino will so please go there and voice your opinion.

Tonight’s forum is supposed to focus on foreign policy and national security though both men will probably discuss the financial crisis. Hopefully they’ll touch on topics affecting the Americas but what are the odds that some issues get more attention than others?

Odds that Obama will:

* Criticize the Bush administration for “ignoring” Latin America – 2/1
* Use immigration to differentiate “Senator” McCain from “candidate” McCain – 5/1
* Argue that travel restrictions against Americans travelling to Cuba should be dropped – 7/1
* Praise Bill Richardson – 13/1
* Announce that he will soon take a trip to Latin America – 25/1

Odds that McCain will:

* Tease Obama’s primary debate remark on meeting with Hugo Chavez – Even
* Argue in favor of free trade agreements with countries like Peru – 3/1
* Make a disparaging remark about Raul Castro – 6/1
* Connect the “war on drugs” with the “war on terror” – 10/1
* Mention Sarah Palin’s Tuesday meeting with Colombia’s president – 20/1

Odds that either candidate will:

* Mention regional leaders aside from the presidents of Mexico, Venezuela, and Cuba – 8/1
* Ignore Latin America altogether – 12/1
* Speak more than three words of Spanish – 50/1

For my part I’ll be back in a little while to give my take on the debate. See you in a bit!

Source:ourlatinamerica.blogspot

Presidential Debate Schedule 2008:Obama/McCain Presidential Debate Schedule - Here is the Presidential Debate Schedule 2008 between Obama and McCain.The Presidential Debate Schedule 2008 shows that there will be 3 debates between John McCain and Barack Obama and one vice presidential debate as well. Presidential Debate Schedule 2008 is as followed:

September 26, 2008: Presidential debate with domestic policy focus, University of Mississippi, Oxford, MS
October 2, 2008: Vice Presidential debate, Washington University, St. Louis, MO
October 7, 2008: Presidential debate in a town hall format, Belmont University, Nashville, TN
October 15, 2008: Presidential debate with foreign policy focus, Hofstra University, Hempstead, NY

Here is Presidential Debate Schedule 2008 break down:

1. First Presidential Debate:

– Date: September 26 – Site: University of Mississippi – Topic: Foreign Policy & National Security – Moderator: Jim Lehrer – Staging: Podium debate – Answer Format: The debate will be broken into nine, 9-minute segments. The moderator will introduce a topic and allow each candidate 2 minutes to comment. After these initial answers, the moderator will facilitate an open discussion of the topic for the remaining 5 minutes, ensuring that both candidates receive an equal amount of time to comment

2. Vice Presidential Debate:

– Date: October 2nd – Site: Washington University (St. Louis) – Moderator: Gwen Ifill – Staging/Answer Format: To be resolved after both parties’ Vice Presidential nominees are selected.

3. Second Presidential Debate:

– Date: October 7 – Site: Belmont University – Moderator: Tom Brokaw – Staging: Town Hall debate – Format: The moderator will call on members of the audience (and draw questions from the internet). Each candidate will have 2 minutes to respond to each question. Following those initial answers, the moderator will invite the candidates to respond to the previous answers, for a total of 1 minute, ensuring that both candidates receive an equal amount of time to comment. In the spirit of the Town Hall, all questions will come from the audience (or internet), and not the moderator.

4. Third Presidential Debate:

– Date: October 15 – Site: Hofstra University – Topic: Domestic and Economic policy – Moderator: Bob Schieffer – Staging: Candidates will be seated at a table – Answer Format: Same as First Presidential Debate – Closing Statements: At the end of this debate (only) each candidate shall have the opportunity for a 90 second closing statement.

All four debates will begin at 9pm ET, and last for 90 minutes and will be broadcast on CBS, NBC, ABC, and FOX, CNN, MSNBC, Fox News, and C-SPAN.
That’s all we have for now on the Presidential Debate Schedule 2008:Obama/McCain Presidential Debate Schedule.

Source:news.spreadit

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan People’s Party Co-chairman, Asif Ali Zardari was elected as the next President of Pakistan after securing majority of votes in the presidential elections held here on Saturday.

Asif Ali Zardari is Pakistan’s 11th President since 1956, when the country became a republic, excluding acting Presidents.

According to the official results announced by the Election Commission of Pakistan Asif Ali Zardari secured 481 votes, Pakistan Muslim League-N candidate Justice (Retd.) Saeed-uz-Zaman Siddiqui secured 153 votes while Mushahid Hussain Sayed fielded by PML-Q bagged 44 votes.

According to unofficial result, Asif Ali Zardari received 281 votes from Parliament, 22 from Punjab, 6 from Sindh, 59 from Balochistan and 56 from NWFP.

In the Parliament Zardari secured 281 votes, 111 by Justice (Retd.) Saeed-uz-Zaman Siddiqui and 34 by Mushahid Hussain Sayed, out of 436 total votes, of which ten were declared invalid.

Asif Ali Zardari secured 123 in Punjab Assembly, 162 in Sindh Assembly, 107 in NWFP, and 59 in Balochistan Assembly.

His rival Justice (Retd.) Saeed-uz-Zaman Siddiqui got 201 votes in Punjab Assembly, none from Sindh, 10 from NWFP and 2 from Balochistan Assembly.

Mushahid Hussain got 36 from Punjab Assembly, none from Sindh, 3 from NWFP and 2 from Balochistan Assembly.

The PML-N candidate Justice (Retd.) Saeed-uz-Zaman Siddiqui outshone in Punjab assembly with 201 votes, followed by Asif Ali Zardari securing 123 votes while Mushahid Hussain Syed could muster support of only 36 members.

Zardari bagged 100 percent votes from his native Province’s Sindh Assembly; he bagged 162 votes out of 163 cast in the house of 166 with one vote declared invalid. The result was announced by Presiding Officer, Chief Justice Sindh High Court, Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali immediately after the counting was over. In the house of 166, not a single vote was cast in favor of any of the other two presidential candidates Mushahid Hussain Sayed and Justice (Retd.) Saeed-uz-Zaman Siddiqui.

Asif Zardari emerged victorious in the Balochistan Assembly by securing 59 out of the 63 votes polled for the presidential election. The other candidates for the post, Justice Saeed-uz-Zaman Siddiqui of PML-N and Mushahid Hussain Sayed of PML-Q got 2 votes each.

The result was announced by the Presiding Officer, Chief Justice of Balochistan High Court Justice Amanullah Yasinzai after counting of votes. Sardar Yar Muhammad Rind and Tariq Hussain Masoori abstained.

In the NWFP Assembly, Asif Zardari secured record 107 votes out of a total of 124 votes polled. Justice (Retd.) Saeed-uz-Zaman Siddiqui of PML-N grabbed 10 votes while Senator Mushahid Hussain Sayed of PML-Q obtained only three votes. While four votes were declared invalid as it were wrongly marked. Presiding Officer Tariq Pervez, Chief Justice of Peshawar High Court declared the unofficial results after counting of the votes.

Earlier, The voting process was held through a secret ballot by the two chambers of the national parliament, the National Assembly and Senate and the four provincial assemblies.

Security has been beefed up across Pakistan and additional contingents of security forces were deployed in major cities.

Source:geo.tv

 ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - The widower of slain former premier Benazir Bhutto became Pakistan’s new president Saturday after winning a landslide election victory that makes him a critical partner of the West against international terrorism.

Unofficial results announced after separate votes in the federal and provincial assemblies showed Asif Ali Zardari winning an overwhelming majority, bolstered by public loyalty to his late wife and hopes that he can pull the country out of its economic doldrums.

Pro-Zardari lawmakers, some in tears, shouted “Long live Bhutto!” as the vote tallies came in. The couple’s two jubilant but tearful daughters, one carrying a portrait of their late mother, smiled and hugged friends in the gallery of the National Assembly.

But Saturday also brought a brutal reminder of the threats to the nuclear-armed nation’s stability as a suicide car bomber killed at least 17 people and wounded dozens near the northwestern city of Peshawar.

The blast destroyed a police checkpoint and collapsed several nearby shops. Civilians dug frantically with their hands for possible survivors.

[read more]

From NBC’s Mark Murray
On Social Security’s 73rd birthday, the AFL-CIO has announced it’s sending a mailing — at first to 50,000 targeted swing-vote seniors living in Michigan, Ohio, and Pennsylvania — that hits McCain on his wealth and his past support for partially privatizing Social Security. The flier also mentions that McCain, who is 71, has already been receiving Social Security benefits.

[Read More]

Under fire for being a technophobe, John McCain will unveil a technology agenda that bundles previously announced pro-business proposals with continued support for a hands-off approach to regulation.

The plan, dubbed “John McCain and American Innovation,” is set to be released Thursday on the Republican presidential candidate’s campaign Web site. It will call for a 10% tax credit on wages paid to all research-and-development employees. At the same time, it will reiterate Sen. McCain’s opposition to Internet taxes and new laws guaranteeing net neutrality, the idea that Internet providers must treat all legal Internet traffic equally.

[Read More]

From Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, and Domenico Montanaro
*** More Clinton-Obama drama: It now has been exactly two months to the day when Hillary Clinton officially ended her candidacy and endorsed Obama. But even two months — and it seems longer ago than that, doesn’t it? — can’t erase the Clinton drama, even as polls show that women and Clinton’s supporters are firmly behind the Illinois Democrat. First came the Bill Clinton interview in which he wouldn’t say that Obama is qualified to be president beyond the requirements set in the Constitution that you have to be 35 or older and born in the US. And now — right before she stumps for Obama tomorrow in Nevada — comes a YouTube clip of Hillary telling her supporters that she wants a “strategy” to have her delegates heard at the convention. (After talking to a Dem operative, Clinton must approve, in writing, for her name to appear on the ballot.)

VIDEO: Sen. Hillary Clinton wants her delegates to be acknowledged at the Democratic National Convention, saying it will help unify the party. NBC’s Andrea Mitchell reports.

So this is in Clinton’s power whether her name is put into nomination, not Obama’s nor Howard Dean’s.) Watching the video clip, you can tell that Hillary still hasn’t gotten over losing, and given all of the people she had telling her that she’d be the next president, we can understand the denial; she had been preparing for this moment for nearly four years. But we’ve asked this question a million times and we ask it again: Would the Clintons have been as deferential (or be expected to be as deferential) to Obama if the roles were reversed? What has happened over the last few days has given Obama the high ground here.

*** Obama not tough enough? If it’s August, that means that Democratic politicos are wringing their hands about their presidential candidate’s campaign strategy, even though this guy — unlike the guy four years ago — is actually winning in the mid-single digits. Today, the Washington Post runs a piece that features plenty of blind quotes from Democratic strategists worried that Obama isn’t tough enough against McCain’s attacks. “[Y]ou have to counterattack,” said one. “You don’t want to look like a whiner. You want to look tough.” Has Obama had a negative TV ad that’s broken through the clutter in either the primary or the general so far? Arguably, the best negative ad against Clinton was that Mac-IBM spoof created by a rogue supporter. Actually, Obama’s ads — even the positive ones — haven’t been anything that have changed the political debate. That said, we found these two quotes in the piece to be interesting. “We’ve been through two very tough elections at the national level, and it’s very easy to lose confidence,” said Tad Devine. And said a Dem consultant: “One of the great strengths of the Obama campaign has been to not listen to the D.C. chattering class. They have a plan and they stick to it. But clearly, the D.C. chattering class are all wringing their hands.”

*** Time to get away? If you believe these Pew numbers about voters hearing “too much” about Obama, then Obama’s vacation, which begins tomorrow, couldn’t be coming at a better time. According to a new Pew poll, 48% of voters — and 51% of independents — say they’ve been hearing too much about Obama. Is that perhaps the true success of the recent spate of negative McCain ads? What does this poll number mean? Does it mean Obama can’t introduce any more information to voters because they have all they need? Does this mean he simply needs to start making the public focus more on Bush or McCain? Is this simply a response to the over-the-top media blitz Obama orchestrated during his international trip? All we know is that we want to see this question asked again and see if there’s a trend.

Video: NBC Political Director Chuck Todd discusses the talk of tension between Barack Obama and the Clinton’s, the latest veepstakes rumors and a new poll on Barack Obama overexposure.

*** A bundle of fun? The New York Times is the latest news organization to cover the fascinating story of McCain bundler Harry Sargeant. Our favorite anecdote in the piece: A guy who, along with his wife, gave McCain $9,200 — but who at first denied giving the donation and then said, “I’m still not going to vote for [McCain].” A GOP source reminds us about the recent story that Obama had to return $33,000 in contributions from two brothers in Gaza. The difference here is that the McCain camp hasn’t yet returned the money Sargeant has bundled. Who wants to bet that by 6:00 pm ET on Friday that the campaign returns all of the money this guy bundled? Given the amounts of money both campaigns have to raise, there is bound to be a rogue element or two who infiltrates the campaign. It appears this Sargeant is just that, as there doesn’t seem to be any evidence of a quid pro quo, which is what would make this story become bigger.

*** Mending fences? It’s not on his schedule today, but local reporting suggests McCain has an additional stop in Wilmington, OH — closed to the press — “to meet with a small group of residents to gain a greater understanding of the difficult situation facing thousands of Wilmington-based workers at the DHL Air Park.” Earlier in the week, the Cleveland Plain-Dealer reported on the role by McCain and campaign manager Rick Davis in helping a foreign company to acquire the Wilmington facility. By the way, this was one of the more impressive Dem oppo hits in quite some time. There’s some research staff that’s awfully proud of itself this morning, as they’ve made McCain have to play defense on the economy in a major swing state.

*** Not your average primary: Today, it’s primary day in Tennessee, where incumbent Rep. Steve Cohen (D) — a white Jew who represents a majority-black district in the Memphis area — faces a challenge from Nikki Tinker, who is black. The race has received attention because of ads that Tinker is running that features an image of the Ku Klux Klan and another one that says, “While he’s in our churches, clapping his hands and tapping his feet … he’s the only senator who thought our kids shouldn’t be allowed to pray in school.” The primary comes just as Matt Bai has a New York Times magazine piece looking at whether Obama represents the end of black and racial politics. Cohen, who replaced Harold Ford Jr. in Congress, won his primary in 2006 because the black vote was so split. This time, he’s facing a smaller primary field.

*** On the trail: McCain holds a town hall in Lima, OH and attends a fundraiser Liberty Township, OH. And Obama begins his day in Minneapolis before heading to Chicago before his upcoming vacation to Hawaii.

Countdown to Dem convention: 18 days
Countdown to GOP convention: 25 days
Countdown to Election Day 2008: 89 days
Countdown to Inauguration Day 2009: 166 days

[Source:firstread.msnbc.msn]