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Presidential Debate Post-Mortem: Live From Oxford
FiveThirtyEight: Politics Done Right — ... 10:14 CDT: [Nate] OK, here's that link to that CBS news poll. And it wasn't 500 independents -- it was 500 uncommitted voters. I would say, just from my own point of view, that Obama didn't win by anything like a 2:1 margin, but that's partly because I was so pleased with his first 45 minuets that he raised my expectations for the last 45, when McCain seemed almost literally to wake up. ...

Do People Watch Presidential Debates?
Lawyers, Guns and Money — Wasn't there a repeat of "House" on USA? This seems mildly positive: Forty percent of uncommitted voters who watched the debate tonight thought Barack Obama was the winner. Twenty-two percent thought John McCain won. Thirty-eight percent saw it as a draw. Forty-six percent of uncommitted voters said their opinion of Obama got better tonight. Sixty-eight percent of uncommitted voters think Obama would make the right decisions about the economy. Forty-one percent think McCain would.

Swing Voters Give Obama The Win In Debate
Oliver Willis — Woot. CBS News and Knowledge Networks conducted a nationally representative poll of approximately 500 uncommitted voters reacting to the debate in the minutes after it happened. These figures are still preliminary and could change as more respondents complete the survey. But here’s what we have so far: Forty percent of uncommitted voters who watched the debate tonight thought Barack Obama was the winner. Twenty-two percent thought John McCain won. Thirty-eight percent saw it as a draw. UPDATE: Focus ...

Obama Wins!!!
Comments from Left Field — ... The first post debate poll is from CBS/Knowledge Networks of approximately 500 uncommitted voters taken minutes after the debate. ...

Initial Polls Show Obama Winning The Debate
TPM Election Central — ... And the numbers released so far from the CBS poll of undecided debate-watchers: 39% said Obama won, 25% said McCain won, and 36% said it was a draw. Forty-six percent said their opinions of Obama went up, compared to only 31% who said the same about McCain. On the economy, 66% said Obama would make the right decisions, compared to 44% who said the same for McCain. ...

master debaters
skippy the bush kangaroo — ... cbs news forty percent of uncommitted voters who watched the debate tonight thought barack obama was the winner. twenty-two percent thought john mccain won. thirty-eight percent saw it as a draw. forty-six percent of uncommitted voters said their opinion of obama got better tonight. sixty-eight percent of uncommitted voters think obama would make the right decisions about the economy. forty-one percent think mccain would. ...

Poll Results Suggest More Uncommitted Voters Saw Obama As Debate Winner
Democratic Underground Latest Breaking News — ... percent of uncommitted voters who watched the debate tonight thought Barack Obama was the winner. Twenty-five percent thought John McCain won. Thirty-six percent saw it as a draw. Forty-six percent of uncommitted voters said their opinion of Obama got better tonight. Thirty-one percent said their opinion of McCain got better. Sixty-six percent of uncommitted voters think Obama would make the right decisions about the economy. Forty-four percent think McCain would. Read more: http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2008/09/26/politics/horser...

Gettin' LiveBloggy With It
The Huffington Post | Full News Feed — ... why I'm glad I have a super-experienced VP like Joe Biden." Maybe a bit too subtle? D'ya think? (5) McCain set the agenda. Personally, I think that McCain owned Obama up there. Not everyone agrees with me, nor does that necessarily mean that ultimately makes a difference. But still, that meant that McCain got to dictate what was discussed; Obama was largely responsive. (6) All that said, swing voters broke for Obama. It's true! So who knows. There's more — much more! Pakistan, Afghanistan, ...

First poll results: Obama wins
The Reality-Based Community — ... Per CBS : 500 uncommitted voters Winner: 39% Obama 24% McCAin 37% draw Opinion of Obama improved: 46% Opinion of McCain improved: 32% Would make right decisions about economy: Obama: 66% McCain: 42% Would make right decisions about Iraq: Obama 48% McCain 56% Posted at ...

MSNBC Rues Obama Not Tougher; CBS Shows Only Obama Backer
NewsBusters.org - Exposing Liberal Media Bias — ... She didn't provide a number for McCain, perhaps because she ran out of time, but the CBSNews.com posting provided an answer: “Thirty-two percent said their opinion of McCain got better.” ...

One more reaction thread
Daily Kos — ... and CBS polling, the public has overwhelmingly crowned Obama the winner of the debate. It seems that Republicans spent so much time trashing Obama's "lack of experience" and "lack of judgment" on national security, that expectations were ridiculously low, and as a result, people were pleasantly (and happily) surprised. ...

The polls and focus groups
Political Animal — ... the focus group results, for example: "For what it's worth: The Frank Luntz and Stanley Greenberg focus groups went overwhelmingly for Obama." The CBS poll , which focused exclusively on undecided voters, found that a plurality, 39% to 25%, believed Obama "won" the debate, though over a third, 36%, saw it as a "draw." CNN appears to have released the longest and most detailed of the debate-related polls. ...

9/27 Daily Kos R2K Tracking Poll: Obama 49, McCain 43
Daily Kos — ... a "maverick," he actually lost slight ground on "offering a different path than Bush," showing that these gains were more about style than substance. CNN: Men were nearly evenly split between the two candidates, with 46 percent giving the win to McCain and 43 percent to Obama. But women voters tended to give Obama higher marks, with 59 percent calling him the night's winner, while just 31 percent said McCain won CBS: Nearly half of those uncommitted voters who watched the debate said ...

The Polls Say Obama Won
The Daily Dish | By Andrew Sullivan — ... Obama 61%, McCain 26% • Was more in touch with the needs and problems of people like you: Obama 62%, McCain 32% Since the economy has emerged as the biggest issue, these two findings on who did better on what topic are pretty important:     • The economy: Obama 58%, McCain 37%   • The current financial crisis: Obama 54%, McCain 36% And from CBS:   Thirty-nine percent of uncommitted voters who watched the ...

The Morning After
The Mahablog — ... last night’s debate. The first reactions from pundits and bloggers last night was that [fill in name of preferred candidate] won on points, but [the other guy] held his own, and neither emerged a clear winner. Dana Milbank and other professional commenters complained that the debate was “tepid” and boring. Politics is just entertainment, after all. However, there is evidence the television audience saw a different debate. Polls by CBS and CNN say that independents watching the debate came away more impressed by Obama. ...

Debate Post-Mortem
PoliBlog: A Rough Draft of my Thoughts — ... changes the race, this wasn’t it. I don’t recall any especially problematic answers or mistakes that would make good sound bites of the type that make good commercial fodder or that will be discussed ad nauseam on cable TV. In terms of the post-debate TV round-up, I am sure that everyone will be shocked to hear that Bill Kristol proclaimed McCain the winner and Keith Olbermann thought that Obama won. Here are some poll numbers: According to the CBS News/Knowledge Networks poll: Thirty-nine percent of uncommitted voters ...

Post-Debate Polling: It’s McCain!
Jules Crittenden — ... CBS : Initial polling says undecideds like Obama. However,  CBS News and Knowledge Networks conducted a nationally representative poll of approximately 500 uncommitted voters reacting to the debate in the minutes after it happened. Thirty-nine percent of uncommitted voters who watched the debate tonight thought Barack Obama was the winner. Twenty-four percent thought John McCain won. Thirty-seven percent saw it as a draw. Sorry, I have to stick with the principle that McCain wins a draw. Especially amid all the expectations that McCain was going to get ruffled, McCain is ...

Early spin
the talking dog — ... C/o Bruce the Veep, at least this CNN quick-poll of undecideds shows that although there is a disagreement on whether McCain won the debate on Iraq related points, Obama won the overall debate solidly. Not exactly a "game-changer" when all the other fundamentals show serious "O-mentum" right now. ...

Yes, I Watched the Debate
The Glittering Eye — ... you stand depends on where you sit. I thought that both men did what they needed to do last night with Sen. Obama demonstrating that he wasn’t out of place at the podium and Sen. McCain largely retaiing his composure. I felt that the very fact of the debate favored the less familiar Sen. Obama and I suspect that he’s closed some of the distance towards putting the American people at ease with his candidacy. That’s the way the polling of “undecideds” seems to be breaking. ...

Paul Newman passes away
the talking dog — ... Somehow, "legend" isn't enough of a superlative for Newman, who succumbed to cancer at age 83 . Perhaps it can best be summarized as that he proved that a great man... can also be a good man. ...

Not so Much. . . .
Martini Revolution — ... 52 John McCain 47 Who would better handle the economy? Barack Obama 58 John McCain 37 CNN Runs this headline on Saturday: Round 1 in debates goes to Obama, poll says Fifty-one percent of those polled thought Obama did the better job in Friday night’s debate, while 38 percent said John McCain did better. CBS airs this story Friday Night: Poll Results Suggest More Uncommitted Voters Saw Obama As Debate Winner Thirty-nine percent of uncommitted voters ...

On Iran, Hawk And Hawkier
Crooks and Liars — ... opinion about last night’s Presidential foreign policy debate. I didn’t think Barack Obama showed himself well, but maybe that’s because I’m used to seeing Republicans play freely with the facts while I expect more from Obama. Yet both seems to equally prefer a constructed narrative on Iran over the opinions of experts. ...

Your Abbreviated Pundit Round-up
Daily Kos — ... If actual undecided voters who watched the debate favored Obama, as this CBS poll suggests, is that because, after the events of the past week, they were just looking for Obama to pass a threshold test? Add if that's the case, how would McCain now be doing if he'd just gone ahead and had this debate, and done as well as he did, without pulling ...

9/29: Friday Night Lights
Blogometer — ... summarizes, "This was McCain's turf. He needed a solid victory, and he didn't get it." Liberal bloggers are directing a lot of criticism at McCain for refusing to look at Obama during the debate and for repeatedly claiming that the IL senator "doesn't understand" various issues. Lefty bloggers believe that McCain came across as mean-spirited and condescending, and they're pointing to focus groups as evidence that McCain turned off undecided voters with his demeanor. OBAMA DEBATE: Passing The Commander-In-Chief Test Most liberal bloggers were pleased with Obama's debate ...

if the debates were the playoffs, the dems take the pennant, 4-0
skippy the bush kangaroo — ... in the first presidential debate, second presidential debate and vice presidential debate, more uncommitted voters said the democratic candidate was the victor. and tonight's results have, by a wide margin, made it a clean sweep. here are the final results of the survey of 638 uncommitted voters: fifty-three percent of the uncommitted voters surveyed identified democratic nominee barack obama as the winner of tonight's debate. twenty-two percent said republican rival john mccain won. twenty-five percent saw the debate as a draw. ...

Polls: Obama Won Debate (Again)
Outside The Beltway | OTB — Polls: Obama Won Debate (Again) Shocking news:  All the major polls show that Barack Obama won the third debate, just as they showed that he won the first two and Joe Biden won the VP debate.  Between the liberal media conspiracy and the fact that Obama and Biden are better debators than McCain and Obama, it’s not even fair. At any rate, the numbers.  Bold text all added for emphasis. CBS : In the first presidential debate , second presidential debate and vice presidential debate , more uncommitted voters said the Democratic candidate was the ...