Live blogging the presidential debate

The candidates are getting ready to come out - Olbermann is just wrapping up Countdown, the 1,995th day since Bush declared "Mission Accomplished" about Iraq. (I love it that Olbermann ends every show with that.)

Anyway, Bob Schieffer is at the table, and they are ready to get started...

9:02: This debate will be on domestic issues - not a McCain strong point, so he's got a pretty steep hill to climb tonight.

The first question is about the economy and each candidate's bailout plans - McCain goes first...

9:04: McCain is talking about keeping people into their homes - a theme that gained little traction in the last debate. To be fair, I happen to agree with McCain on this issue - it's what FDR did during the Great Depression, and it's what the government needs to do now. Amazing that McCain didn't take any aim at Obama during his first response.

9:06: Obama is talking about a rescue package for the Middle Class, and he wants to implement a tax credit for companies that are keeping jobs here. Bravo - it's long overdue, and if he becomes president, I hope he is indeed aggressive in doing this. And he wants to get a package passed quickly. Very good.

9:08: Now McCain is talking about some plumber in Ohio, and how he'll help him buy his business. Corn-ball - I HATE it when candidates do this on either side. And, you think it's an accident that McLame mentions someone from Ohio? Please. Anyway, he's attacking Obama for proposing to raise taxes on small businesses.

9:09: Obama refutes Joe plumber's story, saying "he must be watching some of Senator McCain's political ads." A mild jab. I wish Obama would talk about how McCain voted to raise the self-employment tax by over 50% early in his Congressional career. Do your homework, Obama staffers!

9:11: Now McCain is practically jumping out of his chair, saying, "Why would you want to raise anyone's taxes right now?!? Here's an answer, McDrilly - 1% of Americans have 90% of the wealth in this country. It's a basic difference between the candidates and their parties - McCain drags an old GOP attack line out of the closet: "Class Warfare." Well, the GOP has been declaring its own class warfare during the last eight years. (I'll come back to this after the debate, and tomorrow.)

9:13: Now a question on the deficit. Obama is talking about "pay as you go" - and he's talking about subsidies to insurance companies - a good start. Don't forget the oil company subsidies, BO. I can guarantee that McCain will come back with a "spending freeze" sham, which would cause suffering in some areas that actually need more spending (infrastructure and homeland security, anyone?).

9:15: McCain's answer about the deficit? He's talking about home ownership, again. He also mentions Senator Clinton - a transparent attempt to court her supporters, no doubt. First whopper of the night - McCain claims that Obama has been against clean energy technologies, which is complete bullshit.

9:17: McCain is AGAIN talking about pork barrel spending. Attack him, Barack! Christ, McCain is talking about an overhead projector, AGAIN. ZZZZZ Hey curmudgeon, it didn't work in the last debate, so why are you bringing it up again? Obama is coming back with his answer, and he's not adequately attacking McCain on this issue, for the third straight debate. Call it a hat trick of points left on the table about earmarks. C'mon, Obama - hit him where it hurts!

9:20: Oooh, now it's getting personal - "Senator Obama, I'm not President Bush. If you wanted to run against President Bush, you should have run four years ago." Obama had better hit him back about his voting record. And again, McCain brings out the cliche about "standing up to his own party." Another zzz moment.

9:22: First sharp jab of the night - Obama names three things that he's voted for, after being challenged by McCranky, where he's stood up to his own party. Second haymaker of the night - Obama mentions how McCain has voted for Bush an overwhelming majority of the time on economic matters. Good.

9:24: Here comes the fireworks - Schieffer asks about taking the "high road," and he brings up examples of both sides.

McCain is lying through his crooked, yellow teeth right now! "Every time a supporter of mine has said something negative, I have repudiated it." That's the biggest lie of all three of these debates.

McCain is also going after Obama's spending, saying he can "prove" that Obama has spent more than any other candidate "in history." Good - have at it, Senator - we'll wait for that proof.

9:27: I'm delighted that Obama comes back at McCain's stupid insinuation that if Obama would have agreed to the town meetings, he would have not run the negative ads. What a joke.

9:29: Now the two candidates are jabbing about some Congressman Lewis, who drew a comparison between the many Palin rallies when people have been shouting hateful remarks, like "Terrorist!" and "Kill Him!" Obama just served up an opportunity for McCain to bring up Ayers when he mentioned that Palin has said that Obama "palls around with terrorists."

Totally gutless McCain refuses to really bring up Ayers.

9:34: Now McCain is bring up ACORN and Ayers, so maybe he's not completely gutless, but he's stoking up and enraging the base about ACORN - a staple of right-wing hate radio - what a complete bullshit story, and Obama is smiling. I hope Obama brings up the fact that McCain was ACORN's keynote speaker in 2006! Oops.

I'll come back to ACORN later.

9:35: Obama is refuting the Ayers accusations pretty effectively, as well as ACORN. I would have preferred a stronger response from Obama. I think McCain is coming completely unglued now - he's babbling about Ayers, ACORN and taxes. Yikes. I just don't think this will wash with the American people.

9:41: Now a question about the running mates. This is an opening for Obama about Palin - will he take it? So far, he's just talking about Biden and his virtues - he just paid his toll on the high road. I know McLame won't do the same - let's wait and see - he can't talk about the virtues of Palin - her popularity is just above Bush's.

9:43: Now McCain is ticking off talking points about Palin - and it's all b.s. The "breath of fresh air" McCain is talking about smells like Moose shit to me. She's dumber than a box of hammers - Obama knows it, McCain knows it, and America increasingly knows it. Know how I know McCain knows it? This woman has not held one press conference since joining the ticket, and she's held two disastrous interviews with softball journalists - Charlie Gibson and Katie Couric, and an absolutely asinine interview with Sean Goebbels.

9:44: McCain just said cockamamie. I can't stop laughing.

9:46: ANOTHER whopper of a lie by McCain - that Obama told Canada "that he would unilaterally renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement." Obama did not say that. What he said is that "maybe we should look at it." And by the way, NAFTA is a total disaster - Mr. Free Trader McCain is so wrong on this issue. Free trade has destroyed this country and decimated our manufacturing capacity - Obama should at least jab him on this. McCain must be receiving lots of money from the nuclear industry, because he fellates them on a regular basis.

9:48: Obama is now talking energy, and I like his answers. He's pretty solid here.

9:50: Now McCain is attacking Obama again - criticizing Obama for saying that he'll "look at" offshore drilling. McDrilly then says that we need to "Drill now" and that it will bring down the price of oil. Offshore drilling is a bad idea, in my opinion - it will just put off making hard choices about new technologies. Despite what McCain says, domestic drilling won't "bring down the price of oil" - that's a myth. What's to stop the big oil producers from scaling back production equal to what we pull out of the ground to keep prices high? Ooops, redux.

9:54: McCain doesn't disappoint - he is a broken record, attacking Obama over and over and over again ~ to listen to McCranky, you'd think that Obama is the worst candidate ever. And McCain recycles the "sitting down with preconditions" toothless witticism again.

9:56: Finally, a question about health care. I like Obama's proposals, but he's not adequately taking it to McCain. I hope this doesn't cost Obama on election day. I don't think it will, but McCain is doing all of the attacking.

Now McCain is talking about putting health records online - that's a horrifically bad idea, period.

Now McCain is talking about his $5k tax credit, and he's talking about Joe the plumber again. How much do you want to bet right now that the media tracks this guy down tomorrow to interview him? Another needless distraction in this long, tired campaign.

Is it me, or are McCain's constant interruptions really getting annoying? Again, McDrilly just can't keep his contempt for Obama in check. This should also turn off voters - we'll see if I'm right.

Obama is now coming back about McCain's $5k tax credit. I'm happy that he's addressing it. One thing that I haven't heard discussed - what's to stop insurers from hiking up rates to sop up the $5k that taxpayers will get?

Now McCain is babbling about Obama "spreading the wealth around," to stoke up the base, again. "Class Warfare" and "Big Government" soon follow - snore.

10:03: I'm laughing now - McCain just called Obama "Senator Government" before correcting himself. An ouch moment - McCain just talked about how "the size of government has grown by over 40% during the past eight years." Who's been in the White House for the past eight years? Who has ruled Congress for six of the last eight years? Oops. McCain then catches himself and says, lamely, "By the way, who has been in charge of Congress the last two years? Democrats."

10:06: A question about Roe v. Wade, and McCain runs for cover, giving the bullshit answer that "it should be up to the states." Whenever any Repube says that, it should raise a red flag. That's talking in code for: "I don't want to answer the question, so it can't come back to bite me in the ass later." For another example, ask Dick Cheney (where's he been, anyway?) how he feels about gay marriage.

10:08: Obama defends Roe v. Wade and says "it was decided correctly." Nice. Bonus - Obama talks about the absolutely absurd Ledbetter decision about equal pay. Are you listening, women of America? Women are making 85 cents on the dollar compared to men for doing the exact same job. We need more progress in this area.

10:10: Now McCain is hitting more GOP talking points - partial-birth abortion, and voting "Present" in some of his votes. It will be interesting to see how Obama responds.

10:12: McCain's nonverbal language tonight has been pretty hilarious. Sometimes, it looks like someone is squeezing him in his dried up lemons.

10:14: Score one for Obama - speaking about partial-birth abortion, Obama said that he would vote for a ban on it if it made exceptions for threatening the life of the mother and in cases of rape and incest. Good.

I'm very happy to hear Obama talk about preventing teenage pregnancies, an allusion to the Bush administration's miserable failure - the teen abstinence program - billions have been spent. Maybe that's where McCain could balance the budget. I'm not holding my breath.

10:16: A question on education - seems like this topic has been an afterthought, but I'm glad that a question at least got asked.

10:18: Want a huge laugh? GOP stooge Drudge already has up a McCain/Obama poll about who won the debate, as well as a picture of Joe the Plumber, and a headline about voter irregularities in Ohio. He's such a GOP hack.

10:19: Obama is referring to the importance of education, and how it's a national security issue - it really is.

10:20: McCain is now talking about charter schools (As long as this doesn't mean school vouchers). I'm a vehement opponent of school vouchers and always will be, at least in their current form.

To be honest, I'm not really impressed with either candidate's answer about education. Every president since 1900 (at least so it seems) has vowed in one way or another to be the "education president," and not one has really delivered.

Obama just said that Bush "left the funding behind" for No Child Left Behind. A nice little jab to wrap up the night. He also just took aim at vouchers - kudos, Barack.

Why is McCain writing so much? What's he writing? Who's he writing to? He's probably planning the next attack ad. So much for "taking the high road, Mac.

McCranky is now dripping in his condescension toward Obama, saying that he was "surprised that you didn't pay attention" to a voucher system in D.C. You can almost see the thought bubble above his head: "I can't believe I'm losing to this guy."

McCain is now talking about refunding No Child Left Behind. Wow. I know many, and I mean dozens, of teachers who would take major issue with that.

10:25: McCain is interrupting Obama's answer about vouchers, and he comes back with more dripping sarcasm. It's a sarcasm value meal at Johnny Mac's tonight. I just don't think it'll wash. We'll know in the morning and over the coming days.

10:28: McSame is giving his closing statement - and of course, he's all but wrapping himself in the American flag.

10:30: Obama is closing, and my final thought is that it's a victory for Obama. McCain did score a few points tonight, but he sure didn't get a knock-out punch that he so desperately needed. Final debate score: Obama 3, McCain, 0. That certainly doesn't guarantee an Obama victory, though. (Just ask John Kerry and Al Gore.)

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That's it - I'll be back with more in a bit.