TIME: Mark Halperin’s grades:
Obama: B+
McCain: B
NBC (Shrum) 9:43 PM: "I think he won a win tonight, Barack Obama. Because I think the big headline of this debate is that people across the country more and more comfortable with the idea of President Obama. He projects a sense of calmness and strength that kind of grace under pressure that people prize in a president."
MSNBC (Fineman) 11:10 PM: "Another good moment for Obama was when Obama basically took control of the foreign policy debate toward the end there."
FOX News (Luntz)10:43 PM: “We seem to be getting winners out of this. Obama did better overall."
CNN (Hillary Rosen): I am fixated on the dial line at the bottom of the screen on CNN. Women are responding very enthusiastically to Obama. And women have been the larger part of the undecided vote in the battleground states. They like his specificity on tax cuts, the budget, education and energy. And now the environment has just sent both men and women to the top line. McCain only gets to the top line with either men or women when he is positive. Each time he criticizes Obama, the line flattens.
Washington Post (Eugene Robinson): I think most viewers will decide that Obama won the debate, if only because he seemed more presidential and he represents a party other than George W. Bush’s. These encounters, I believe, are fundamentally unkind to John McCain.
Talking Points Memo: “Clear, even decisive win for Obama tonight.” The debate’s relatively low-key tone, combined with a series of exchanges that Obama won by at minimum a marginal amount, translate into a clear, even decisive win for Obama tonight. There’s no point in mincing words: Time is running out for McCain. As multiple observers have pointed out, McCain needed to jar the electorate into seeing this race in a new way. It isn’t even clear if McCain even tried to do this tonight — there was no moment where he appeared to make an aggressive bid to take down Obama or grab the initiative.
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FOX News focus group: Obama
CNN focus group: Obama
CNN Poll:
Who won the debate?
Obama: 54%
McCain: 30%
CBS Poll: Uncommitted Voters Say Obama Won Debate
Who won the debate?
Obama: 39%
McCain: 27%
CBS News and Knowledge Networks have, once again, conducted a nationally representative poll of uncommitted voters to get their immediate reaction to tonight’s presidential debate.
And this new poll has good news for the Democratic ticket: Just as in the first presidential debate and the vice presidential face off, more uncommitted voters say the Democratic candidate won the debate.
9 percent of the uncommitted voters surveyed identified Barack Obama as tonight’s winner; 27 percent said John McCain won, while 35 percent saw the debate as a draw.
After the debate, 68 percent of uncommitted voters said that they think Obama will make the right decisions on the economy, compared to 54 percent who said that before the debate. Fewer thought McCain would do so – 49 percent after the debate, and 41 percent before.
Before the debate, 60 percent thought Obama understands voters’ needs and problems; that rose to 80 percent after the debate. For McCain, 35 percent felt he understands voters’ needs before the debate, and 46 percent thought so afterwards.
Before the debate, 42 percent thought Obama was prepared for the job of president. That percentage rose to 57 percent after the debate. For McCain, 80 percent felt he was prepared for the job before the debate, and 84 percent thought so afterwards.
We will have a full report on the poll later on. Uncommitted voters are those who don’t yet know who they will vote for, or who have chosen a candidate but may still change their minds.
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Fact Check: McCain on Iran
Tonight, Barack Obama said: “Senator McCain, this is the guy who sang bomb, bomb, bomb Iran."
THE FACTS: McCain has been reckless in His approach to Iran.
Fact Check: McCain Ignored Afghanistan
Tonight, Barack Obama said: “This is the person who after we had — we hadn’t even finished Afghanistan where he said, next up Baghdad.”
THE FACTS: John McCain has ignored the threat in Afghanistan and thinks Iraq is the central front in the war on terror.
Fact Check: Obama on the Surge in Iraq
Tonight, John McCain said: “He still will not admit he was wrong about the strategy of the surge in Iraq, and that is the same kind of strategy of go out and secure and hold and allow people to live normal lives.”
THE FACTS: Obama has repeatedly said the surge could help reduce violence in Iraq.
Fact Check: Obama on Diplomacy
Tonight, John McCain said: “Now, Senator Obama without precondition wants to sit down and negotiate with them, without preconditions.”
THE FACTS: Obama supports responsible diplomatic engagement with hostile nations.
Fact Check: McCain on Bin Ladin
Tonight, Barack Obama Said McCain Didn’t Think Catching Osama Bin Laden Was That Important.
THE FACTS: McCain said capturing Bin Ladin isn’t "that important" and that we had suceeded in Afghanistan.
Fact Check: McCain on Funding Troops in Somalia
Tonight, John McCain said: “We went into Somalia as a peace making organization, we ended up trying to be, excuse me — excuse me, as a peacekeeping organization. We ended up trying to be peacemakers, and we ended up having to withdraw in humiliation.”
THE FACTS: McCain introduced legislation cutting off funding for troops in Somalia.
Fact Check: On Pakistan
Tonight, John McCain accused Barack Obama of announcing publicly that he would attack Pakistan.
THE FACTS: If we have actionable intelligent about high-value terrorist targets and Pakistan won’t act, we will.
To get the facts from the debate, visit therecord.barackobama.com, where you can get cites and sources for all the information you’ve heard tonight.
And to learn more about JohnMcCain’s record on these issues, visit JohnMcCainRecord.com.
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