Debate Number 4 Prep

So you've probably already got your Tivo set and your pizza ordered, but just in case...a reminder that the last debate is TODAY Wednesday, October 15, 2008 at 9pm EDT (6 pm PDT)at Hofstra University's Hofstra Arena in Hempstead, New York, moderated by Bob Schieffer, CBS News chief Washington correspondent and host of Face the Nation. This debate will focus on domestic and economic policy. It will have a different format than the first two debates, no podiums or stools, but candidates at the table with Bob. "The 'Knights of the Round Table' format is better," CBS's Jeff Greenfield wrote in Slate on Monday. "It's much harder to deliver well-worn talking points when you're sitting right next to your opponent and a moderator than when you're at a podium, which invites bloviation. It permits Schieffer to look into a candidate's eyes from just a foot or two away and press him for an answer."

Greenfield also fields some other excellent ideas: "So widespread is the discontent that some people are getting desperate. In Indiana's highly competitive Ninth Congressional District, Republican Party Chairman Larry Shickles actually proposed last week that the candidates be hooked up to lie detectors for their scheduled Oct. 21 debate. The Republican and Libertarian candidates said yes while the Democratic incumbent had no comment....I confess that I'm drawn to Shickles' idea, not just because it tracks closely with my own notion of slipping sodium pentathol into the candidates' drinking glasses."

Poor Bob's getting a lot of unsolicited advice on how not to screw this one up and hold feet to the fire. "When a candidate doesn't answer the question, my opinion is that, at the very least, the moderator needs to say, 'You didn't answer the question,' former CBS anchor Dan Rather told Politico, on the sidelines of a Time Warner conference Tuesday on the media and politics. "Even if you have to interrupt," Rather added, the moderator should "keep on asking the question, either until the candidate answers it, or it's clear the candidate is not going to answer it." I guess that's why Dan wasn't asked to moderate. Hah!

On CNN today, some pundit or other was saying, "But will Obama be ready if McCain decides to bring up Ayers?" Now, I ask you, when in the last 20 months have you seen this guy NOT ready?? McCain is a man without a plan-- he's in New York for the last couple of days trying to raise money, while Obama is out greeting the 3pm shift workers at the Chrysler plant in Perryburg, Ohio. And people wonder why Obama is leading in Ohio?

I actually rather expect that McCain will try to bring up Ayers and ACORN and I expect a lot of vague generalities about his economic plan. But frankly at this point, if he's even got a hope of winning some independents, McCain has gotta start by first convincing people that his cheese hasn't done slid off his cracker, if you know what I mean. And heaven help him if Obama decides to bring up the fact that the guy heading McCain's transition team once LOBBIED for Saddam Hussein.

The Caucus Blog at the NY Times offers some stuff to watch for in this debate. "Mr. McCain has already vowed to "whip" Mr. Obama's "you-know-what" tonight. Of course, he has signaled such a get-tough approach before, only to flag. But this promises to be his last chance for direct confrontation. Watch to see how he uses it and whether he spends more time trying to restore voters' confidence in himself or to raise doubts about Mr. Obama's readiness to serve as commander in chief. The tone he strives for and the degree to which he hammers Mr. Obama will say a lot about where he thinks the race stands now and how he will conduct the rest of the campaign.