Politically the place a lot of members of the House of Representatives probably wanted to be yesterday was voting against the Paulson plan but it passing anyway. There is little public enthusiasm for bailing out Wall Street, both Obama and McCain are now making a concerted effort to call it a rescue plan not a bailout. Oddly enough if the plan passes and works it will become more unpopular as people will say that the crisis really wasn’t bad enough to justify this kind of measure.
There is talk coming out of Washington that the Senate will pass the bailout bill and send it back to the House, almost daring it to vote it down again. Speaking this morning, President Bush made it clear that he’s going to keep pushing for a bill, and enough House members might have been scared by yesterday’s fall on the Dow to get this passed second-time out.
Having watched last night’s debate properly and read the press coverage of it, it seems pretty clear that it was a draw. There was no ‘global test’ moment for either candidate and neither of them managed to put the other on the canvas.
Obama should be a lot happier with this result than McCain. First of all he is ahead so a debate that doesn’t change the dynamics of the race suits him. Secondly this was a debate on foreign policy and national security—admittedly, the first third of it was taken...
John McCain will attend tonight’s debate despite there not yet being a deal on the bailout. Realistically, McCain couldn’t afford to miss it. Obama’s biggest weakness is still the Commander in Chief test: McCain has to ram home the point that he is significantly better qualified for this role than Obama if he is to have a real chance of winning the election.
McCain also has to better Obama tonight to regain momentum. The last week of presidential campaign coverage has been dominated by a string of stories that hurt McCain....
David Brooks has an excellent column today on why he wishes McCain was running a different campaign. Here’s the key section:
“what disappoints me about the McCain campaign is it has no central argument. I had hoped that he would create a grand narrative explaining how the United States is fundamentally unprepared for the 21st century and how McCain’s worldview is different.
McCain has not made that sort of all-encompassing argument, so his proposals don’t add up to more than the sum of their parts. Without a groundbreaking argument about
It's still doubtful whether Presidential Debate junkies will get their fix tonight. But here's something to tide them over: footage of the very first televised Presidential Debate - between Kennedy and Nixon - which took place 48 years ago today. It lacks the two candidates' opening and closing statements (for a full transcript, click here), but there's still plenty to savour - from Nixon glowering to the Mad Men stylings. Classic politics, and classic TV:
Politically the place a lot of members of the House of Representatives probably wanted to be yesterday was voting against the Paulson plan but it passing anyway. There is little public enthusiasm for bailing out Wall Street, both Obama and McCain are now making a concerted effort to call it a rescue plan not a bailout. Oddly enough if the plan passes and works it will become more unpopular as people will say that the crisis really wasn’t bad enough to justify this kind of measure. 
Having watched last night’s debate properly and read the 
John McCain will 
David Brooks has an 
