Matt and Jim both graduated, so right now it’s just me, Liz.

Sen. Joe Biden and Gov. Sarah Palin are going at it right now on NBC, and all I can think of is Tina Fey portraying Palin on Saturday Night Live.

So far, Palin is doing a pretty good job of circumventing these questions, in all of her Canadian accent glory.

Joe Biden looks just like every other older white guy in politics.

“Barack Obama and Sen. Biden.” – So, Obama doesn’t get the benefit of his title? He’s a Senator too…

“I’m gonna talk straight to the American people and let them know about my track record.”

What track record? Has she really been in mainstream politics enough to claim to have a track record?

Class Warfare.

“The middle class is struggling.” This is a 100 percent true statement.

Patriotic is saying ‘government is the problem.’

Heathcare

$5,000 tax credit. Budget neutral.

Universal health care -

Way to take down the GOP there Sarah. Yeah, the Bush Administration has totally screwed up pretty much everything. You can’t claim to espouse all the ideals of good, old-fashioned family values (the same values President Bush used to get elected in 2000 and 2004), and then say “oh, the feds suck.” No kidding. Way to be on top of things. And how are those same failed policies going to help?

Guess what? There aren’t really a whole lot of people who live in Alaska.

“My own area of expertise, which is energy.” Okay, so she’s good at something? Other than all those hockey mom references. We’ll see.

“Greed on Wall Street.” Yes.

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So, I’m blogging at my boyfriend’s, and he and two of his roommates are commentating as we’re watching the debate. Now, I’m a great multi-tasker, but it’s definitely hard to concentrate on the debate, their conversations and writing down my own opinions about Biden-Palin.

Palin’s handlers have definitely done a pretty good job of prepping her for the debate. She’s definitely doing a pretty good job of not sounding like a moron, but they should have instructed her not to smirk so much. It’s a Bush tactic that turns voters off.

“Clean coal”
Biden “absolutely” supports granting same-sex rights.

Palin “straight-up doesn’t support defining a marriage as anything other than between a man and a woman.”
“We’re getting closer and closer to a victory, and it would be a travesty if we pulled out now.”

Now, I have a number of friends who have fought in Iraq. Their parents and friends are pretty damn adamant that they should be home. It’s valiant to be a veteran. We should only put them in harm’s way if absolutely necessary, and just saying put because we might win eventually is not good enough.

“Change is coming.” Palin admits the Bush Administration has made “blunders,”  but feels that the Obama-Biden camp can’t truly be promoting change if they keep bringing up the past. Either you can extol your voting record or you can just say “ok, this is what we’re going to do in the future.” The McCain-Palin ticket is trying to distance themselves from the failed policies of the current administration, which should underline the point that we need change. Obama’s whole campaign has been built on the concept of change, and it’s pretty shady to suggest that the ticket with the white, 72 year-old is the campaign of change.

“I don’t have the stomach for genocide when it comes to Darfur.” It really is about time Washington politicians did something about that situation.

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Basically, if either presidential candidate was assassinated, the respective vp’s would carry out their slain presidents’ plans.

A shout-out to Palin’s brother’s third grade class? LAME.
Did she really just say that she was picked as VP, based on her “executive experience?” Wow.

And yes, I think we can all agree that Vice President Dick Cheney is scary.

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Wow.

Biden just won lots of points for pointing out the hard times he’s experienced.

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Not gonna lie, getting kinda bored watching the debate. Quoting President Reagan isn’t exactly the best way to spice things up.

We’ll see how things go next week.

In the room were strategists galore, U.S. Rep. Stephanie Tubbs-Jones (Clinton supporter), Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland (Clinton supporter), former Cleveland Mayor Michael White (former Clinton supporter turned Obama supporter), Ohio Treasurer Richard Cordray (Obama supporter) and a variety of others.

Ohio Democratic Party Chairman Chris Redfern (mentioned earlier as having been interviewed on the radio right in front of us in the press room) did his job valiantly, calling the debate “a draw.”

He said he doesn’t think the debate tonight will change much in the polls, and that the race in Ohio will definitely be within a few percentage points a week from today.

Additionally, he said he wished (of course) that the Democratic candidates would focus more on bashing Sen. John McCain.

“If I had my druthers, I’d like them to focus a little more on John McCain, who is probably right now attending an economics class at the University of Cincinnati because he has admitted he doesn’t know beans about economics,” Redfern said.

Strong words you might say, but that is his place here at the debate.

As for the other spinsters down there, well, they didn’t have much to say that was worth posting here. Hopefully you watched the debate tonight and can make up your own mind without eating up their assessments.

- James Ramey III

1. MSNBC was counting on fireworks tonight, and they did their best to make sure this debate delivered. Couching Clinton’s remarks about what an honor it is to share a stage with Barack Obama versus her “shame on you” speech ensured we’d get a show. Too bad so much of it was forced.

2. Speaking of forced fireworks, Clinton’s “Saturday Night Live” line was about as artificial as they come. The entire press filing room gasped when she said it. But I don’t think anyone was particularly impressed.

3. Obama did a better job of deflecting the bad press he’s received from his position on Pakistan and the endorsement from Louis Farrakhan than Clinton did defending her vote to authorize the president to use force in Iraq. And her attempt to shift attention to the future, not to mention her comments that Obama’s opposition to the war came without risk, were pretty weak.

4. Seems like Clinton’s will to attack Obama went away when Obama gave her credit for her sense of humor when she gave her mocking impression of his speaking style. Obama uses humor to defuse tense situations skillfully. My understanding is Clinton doesn’t like going negative against a fellow Democrat, and her discomfort doing so came through tonight.

5. Clinton’s inability to stay on topic with the moderators did her no favors. Tim Russert’s pointed questions didn’t help, either. Obama more skillfully defended himself against Russert’s attacks.

Overall, I have to score this a victory for Obama. Clinton needed to hit Obama hard, and she never scored a solid punch tonight. Obama’s momentum will be difficult to stop.

-Matt Koesters

Jim is currently down in the Spin Room. I just frantically finished editing Matt’s story and sent it into the office in the hopes that we will in fact make deadline.

I’m bummed that we have such limited space to run a story with my byline on it for tomorrow’s Feb. 27 issue of The News Record, but hopefully I will have one in the Feb. 28 issue.

And Jim has returned, so look for a blog update from him soon!

 - Liz Gnau

The Hardball folks were talking it up trying to figure out who won and who had a better performance while the volunteers followed important people around with signs with large-print names on it.

And the continuing coverage presses on, on all of the networks.

- James Ramey III

Off to the spin room to witness the “spin-meisters” in action.

- James Ramey III

Obama is excited to point out that he is the only one to beat John McCain in a general election. Right after that remark, in an answer to a Russert question on the future of Russia’s presidency, Clinton gives a fairly tame but strict response.

She is concerned with how we’re going to deal with Russia going forward, especially given that the successor to Vladmir Putin will be hand-picked. And note another funny moment of Clinton trying to pronounce the name of the successor to the Russian Presidency, after attempting a few times she says “whatever” to laughter.

To this point there hasn’t been much pandering to the youth vote directly, other than part of the discussion of healthcare. Odd, isn’t it, that there isn’t much talk directly targeting younger voters given the debate is at a university and the Unviersity of Cincinnati Ohio poll released Feb. 25 shows the candidates neck and neck among 18- to 29-year-olds.

The chaos is about to ensue in the spin room, down four stairwells from the press filing room. Members of the press are already begining to assemble in the hallway on their way to cover all of the spin downstairs.

We picked up a copy of The Columbus Dispatch on the drive in today, and I was particularly fond of the debate watching advice they gave. They advised viewers at home to turn off the television to make up their own minds, not to let the spin doctors on T.V. influence what they should think of the candidates.

- James Ramey III

 Jim has been diligently posting updates, as Matt and I are busy transcribing the stuff we’re watching.

Tons of the journalists just left to smoke at the commerical break.

 And now we’re back!

 - Liz Gnau

After moderator Brian Williams successfully changes the topic from health care (after an opening 16 minute discussion)  to NAFTA (the North American Free Trade Agreement) Clinton takes another poke at Obama. She points out that she has frequently received the first few questions and has been required to answer first for the last few debates. She says she doesn’t mind, but asks if Obama might need an extra pillow in reference to a Saturday Night Live skit.

The resulting “oohs” and “aahs” in the press room with a few chuckles gives a good sense of the press’ opinion on who is taking jabs at whom. Clinton and Obama each continue with a fairly civil exchange on NAFTA.

Once the questioning is turned over to Tim Russert, the NAFTA discussion gets a little more in-depth. Clinton then says she will renegotiate NAFTA and that Russert doesn’t have all of the record. She then takes back to defending her positions on NAFTA and charging Obama has attacked her unfairly with his NAFTA mailings.

Clinton has been talking for a few minutes now and Obama hasn’t gotten much of a word in on the NAFTA debate. Finally Obama gets a word in and agrees with Clinton that he will renegotiate NAFTA if he is President. Obama stays completely positive in his answer, stating NAFTA and other free trade agreements can be beneficial if negotiated correctly.

All of this is happening with the undertone of hundreds of fingers typing away on lap tops in the press room.

They first show a clip of how Clinton buddies up to Obama at a previous debate followed by a clip of her at Cincinnati State, with Gov. Ted Strickland at her flank, bellowing “shame on you Barack Obama!”

After the clips are played, the camera pans back to the candidates with Obama maintaining a stern look and Clinton smiling.

Once Clinton gets her two-cents in stating the people need to know the facts about her health care plan and the mailings Obama’s campaign has sent out, Obama tries to straight talk out the differences.

As of the first few minutes of the debate it doesn’t seem to be treading too much toward the slug fest many in the media have predicted it to be. It is a much more pointed exchange and the tension in the room is clear. We’ll see how much this holds true through the rest of the debate.

- James Ramey III