The Populista Report: Obama wins again: Post debate reactions and call to action

Digg it!

The final 2008 presidential debate between Barack Obama and John McCain has concluded. And as promised, McCain went on the attack, trying to distract the American people from the real issues by using fear.

It's the same old typical Rovian campaign. But I don't think that's going to work this time. Once again Obama is being called the winner by people all over the political spectrum. Keep reading to see some of the reactions that are coming in and how you can take action to make sure John McCain's politics of fear.

Snap Polls/Focus Groups:

CNN Focus Group:

Who won the debate?

Barack Obama 58 / John McCain 31

Did you change your vote

3 yes's

All for Obama.

Who expressed their views clearly:

Obama 66 / McCain 26

Favorables/Unfavorables:

McCain Faves Before Debate: 51
McCain Faves After Debate: 49
McCain Unfaves Before: 45
McCain Unfaves After: 49

Obama Faves Before Debate: 63
Obama Faves After Debate: 66
Obama Unfaves After: 33

CBS Focus Group:

Who won?

Obama 53 / McCain 22

Who shares your values?

Before debate: Obama 54 percent

After debate: Obama 62 percent

Who are you voting for:

28 Obama / 14 McCain

Fox News:

Obama won (looking for more info)

Did you switch?

4 switches. All for Obama.

Media Curves:

Pundits/Blogs:

Taegan Goodard: Sen. Barack Obama ultimately won the debate by repeatedly bringing it back to the issues. He occasionally lapsed into wonkish, policy speak, but it seemed to register well with the Ohio focus group CNN was tracking. It was refreshing that Obama understands the important issues facing the country. He did a much better job than McCain simply explaining his own policy positions. LINK

ABC News: Sen. Obama also gets specific right away -- looking right to the camera with his bailout package for the middle class. And if you're looking for the first candidate to draw a distinction tonight, it's Obama, not McCain. LINK

Ari Mebler: Barack Obama never delivered a knockout punch during the final presidential debate, but it did not matter. Obama won a T.K.O. -- defeating his opponent without ever knocking him out. LINK

Washington Post (Chris Cillizza): Obama is ON message. A question about campaign finance and nasty campaigning becomes an economic answer. LINK

Bob Shrum: This performance was embarrassing. Put McCain out of his misery -- hold the election now. LINK

TIME: "Jobs." And the dial lines go WHANGO! Obama should work "jobs" into every answer, including any about Bill Ayers. LINK

CNN (Bill Schneider): Obama's answers during this first line of questioning appear crisp and clear, while McCain's sound disconnected and rambling. LINK

ABC News: …McCain is still saying he'd balance the budget within four years? This is silliness, and I think McCain knows it. I look forward to his campaign explaining how, exactly, he'll do this while extending the Bush tax cuts and funding bailouts. LINK

National Review: A couple folks here have been saying that McCain is doing better than in the previous two debates. I wish it were true, but I just don't see it. I think a few times McCain has come across as spluttering. LINK

Washington Post Fact Check (Michael Dobbs): Joe the Plumber - John McCain raised the story of "Joe the Plumber" who ran into Barack Obama at a political rally in Toledo, Ohio, earlier this week. He depicted the plumber as an average American who will end up paying more taxes under the Obama plan. In fact, the plumber told Obama that he had plans to buy a company that would make more than $250,000 a year. Obama has conceded that his proposal to phase out the Bush tax cuts for high-income groups will lead to higher taxes for people making more than $250,000 a year. Obama told the plumber that he would face an increase in his marginal tax rate from 36 to 39 per cent, but Americans earning less than $250,000 a year would stand to gain under his proposal. LINK

Nate Silver: Congratulations, President Obama. LINK

NBC News (Mark Murray): McCain was wrong, however, when he said that 100% of his ads weren't negative. According to a recent study by the University of Wisconsin Advertising Project, 100% of McCain's ads have been negative. LINK

Washington Post Fact Check (Michael Dobbs): McCain exaggerated the closeness of the relationship between Obama and former Weather Underground founder Bill Ayers in claiming that his rival had "launched his political career" in Ayers' living room. It is true that Obama attended a coffee meeting at Ayers' home after he announced his intention to run for the state senate in September 2005. But according to Lynn Sweet of the Chicago Sun-Times, who has tracked Obama's political career closely, the Ayers' event was only one of a series of coffees in the Hyde Park community where he lived. The kickoff for Obama's Senate run came at a meeting in the Hyde Park Ramada Inn on Sept. 19, 1995. LINK

TIME: McCain is flat-out lying about Obama's health care plan. It is not government-run health care, and looks nothing like the Canadian system. LINK

Washington Post Fact Check (Glenn Kessler): John McCain made two assertions on corporate taxes, one that small businesses pay 50 percent of the taxes and the other that U.S. corporations are among the highest taxed in the world. Both are wrong. LINK

Washington Post Fact Check (Alec MacGillis): McCain said that ACORN, the large anti-poverty and affordable housing organization, is perpetrating one of the greatest voter frauds in the history of the country. This is greatly overstating the allegations that have been brought against the group in recent weeks. LINK

Washington Post (Chris Cillizza): The Fix- Again, lots of different attacks from McCain...hard for the average viewer to know what to take from debate. LINK

Also if you want to know the truth about the debate you can check here.

Time for action!:

Fed up with McCain's %100 negative, fear based campaign? Then take action! There are lots of ways you can help and we can't afford to sit on the sidelines any longer.

One way you can help right now is by donating. During the primaries some other bloggers and I started the Obamathon netroots fundraising drive. That has raised $63,376 so far. Can we get that to $75,000 by the end of tonight to show we won't put up with the politics of fear?

Yes we can!

Donate to the Obamathon!

Every little bit counts. 5 bucks or 500 bucks. Whatever you can give right now.

If you can't give or want to do more go to this site and click on your state. Find the office nearest to you and if your not yet involved, go there, they'll find some way you can help no matter what your talents are. If you can phonebank and canvass? Great. If you don't like doing that kind of stuff there is tons of data and other work to be done. I'm sure you can find something that will be fun and help get Barack Obama elected, the people at the office are always friendly and eager to help. It will be fun, trust me.

It's time for us all to step it. Barack's got us to this point, now it's up to us. I think this new ad from SEIU sums up the stakes very quickly.