So the first presidential debate has come and gone, the winner? a toss up. Some polls from CNN say the public thinks Senator Barack Obama was the winner, but overall both candidates offered little.
Personally I thought Senator John McCain sounded good on his experience and on foreign policy, and Obama held his own, but neither were throwing knockout punches.
Both candidates said what they have been saying for most of their campaigns and didn’t deviate much from it. Factcheck.org says both candidates stretched the truth, but in the ways that they have been doing for most of the race.
On the other hand, is a debate with no clear winner, the candidate who has the momentum going into the debate really wins, because the other candidate fails to turn that momentum around, in that sense Obama could be declared the winner.
However, the same CNN article notes that debates may not tell much, Kerry received a 5 point bump in the 2004 polls after similar post-debate assessment to Obama. But then dropped 5 points after the last debate, where he received almost the same numbers, only time will tell.
