England for Obama

No, really. That’s not truthiness - that’s truth.

Chuck Todd looks at how Barack succeeded in making gains in every demographic, and in pretty much every state -

- which resulted in this New York Times voting shift map Brian Williams talks about:

This wasn’t a surprise. And in some ways, neither was this. But the latter one is still pretty powerful.

In the words of Gene Kelly, Debbie Reynolds and Donald O’Connor: good morning, good moooorning!

No, really.

Don’t wet yourself, West Wing fans. But Aaron Sorkin has penned a conversation between President Jed Bartlet and wannabe president Barack Obama.

He wrote it for Maureen Dowd at the New York Times, it touches on elitism (after I wrote this West Wing-referencing post!), and you can read it here.

(Favourite line? “I won’t lie to you, being fictional was a big advantage”. Followed closely by: “Have you tried doing a two-hour special or a really good Christmas show?”)

Yes, that’s “formats” plural - because the vice presidential debate is going to differ from the presidential ones.

The televised, 90-minute debates kick off this Friday, with Obama and MCain sparring from 9pm EST. (So yes, one disadvantage of being Obama supporters over here in the Old Country is that we have to stay up til 2am if we want to watch it live. Anyone want a debate watch party in my bed? Actually, don’t answer that…)

According to the New York Times, the three presidential debates will follow “an unusual free-flowing format” - but guess what? The vice presidential one won’t. And guess why? Because the McCain camp don’t want Sarah Palin to have to spar with Joe Biden. Surprise!

“At the insistence of the McCain campaign, the Oct. 2 debate between the Republican nominee for vice president, Gov. Sarah Palin, and her Democratic rival, Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr., will have shorter question-and-answer segments than those for the presidential nominees, the advisers said. There will also be much less opportunity for free-wheeling, direct exchanges between the running mates.

McCain advisers said they had been concerned that a loose format could leave Ms. Palin, a relatively inexperienced debater, at a disadvantage and largely on the defensive.

The wrangling was chiefly between the McCain-Palin camp and the nonpartisan Commission on Presidential Debates, which is sponsoring the forums.

Commission members wanted a relaxed format that included time for unpredictable questioning and challenges between the two vice-presidential candidates. On Wednesday, the commission unanimously rejected a proposal sought by advisers to Ms. Palin and Senator John McCain of Arizona, the Republican presidential nominee, to have the moderator ask questions and the candidates answer, with no time for unfettered exchanges. Advisers to Mr. Biden say they were comfortable with either format…

McCain advisers said they were only somewhat concerned about Ms. Palin’s debating skills compared with those of Mr. Biden, who has served six terms in the Senate, or about his chances of tripping her up. Instead, they say, they wanted Ms. Palin to have opportunities to present Mr. McCain’s positions, rather than spending time talking about her experience or playing defense.“

Heaven forbid!

It doesn’t surprise me that the Republican camp tried this - but it really does, sadly, surprise me that they’ve got away with it. They deliberately, knowingly chose a candidate with a lack of experience (on every level), who as a result would have to indeed ‘play defense’, and ever since then have tried to skew everything - media coverage, interviews, debates - to ‘make allowances’ for this. It’s unbelievable.

But you know what? There were worries that Joe Biden might simply stomp all over Sarah Palin so effectively during the VP debate that she would actually garner sympathy from the viewing public. Hopefully this way, he can’t - but she’ll still hang herself with her own rope.

Oh, and about that ‘rope’ and ‘hanging’ thing: here was ‘energy expert’ Palin answering a question about oil this week (thanks, Bob Cesca):

“Of course, it’s a fungible commodity and they don’t flag, you know, the molecules, where it’s going and where it’s not. But in the sense of the Congress today, they know that there are very, very hungry domestic markets that need that oil first. So, I believe that what Congress is going to do, also, is not to allow the export bans to such a degree that it’s Americans who get stuck holding the bag without the energy source that is produced here, pumped here. It’s got to flow into our domestic markets first.”

Bring on the eloquent, straight-talking Senator Biden, I say.