All Along The Watchtower

"There must be some kind of way out of here/ Said the joker to the thief/ There's too much confusion/ I cant get no relief..."so sung Jimi Hendrix about businessmen, plow-men, and thieves; still, it seems like we can't get no relief. Last night, all eyes were watching the vice-presidential debate awaiting a clear relief to the muck surrounding ticket positions on the economy, war, and other pressing issues (or see one of the running mates make an ass ... or pachyderm out of themselves). I was running late and even an eager used car salesman had to ease up when I told him I needed to get home for a watch party of the debate because I needed to know for myself how the candidates would address the public.

My summation: Biden's a calm beast. He could have ripped Palin to shreds, but he took the Obama campaign high road by not addressing the blatant foolishness. Palin was prepared and made it a point to regurgitate each talking point she was given. One watch party viewer summed it up by saying that "She exceeded expectations, but there were no expectations for her."

Listening to BBC Radio yesterday afternoon, the Presenters on the station joked that after last week's "boring" debate they weren't sure if they would sacrifice hours of sleep to tune in. Well, on the domestic side, curiosity possibly made the Biden-Palin debate the most watched TV debate ever. Nielsen Media Research estimates 38.7 million viewers on the big four broadcast networks, 30 percent more than the 29.7 million who caught last week's presidential debate on ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox. [source: E! Online]

Just as we shared our commentary with each other during our watch party, many shared their opinions live on the net leading to a number of articles published today on the subject of live blogging. ALBC is familiar with this subject, just last week, we had a post on Facebook election feelings. Check these articles out for a different spin on the new medium taking a large role in our democratic process.

• It was as if we’d all come to a debate watching party, only we weren’t whispering our comments to the person next to us on the couch, we were sharing them with all our friends, spread out all over the country. I asked what a “Bosniak” was and shared my enjoyment of the way Sen. Biden emphasized “Bush’s” over and over. This was fun. Every dodged answer, every nuance or verbal gaffe brought more from the world-wide peanut gallery:
• Joe Biden likes to refer to Joe Biden as Joe Biden
• Palin says ‘Maverick’ more than McCain says ‘Miss Congeniality.’
• If they keep referring to McCain as a maverick, they’re going to ruin Top Gun for me. ["Facebooking the Palin-Biden debate" by Andrew Heining. The Christian Science Monitor]
• For laptop users watching the political debate tonight, you can track political coverage with several liveblogs. One advantage: livebloggers will likely do fact-checks on topics as they are discussed, and a few will provide political commentary on any gaffes or foibles that occur. [Bookmark alert: Liveblogs for Sarah Palin and Joe Biden debate by John Brandon. ComputerWorld.com]

• Online video-sharing and social networking are playing a growing role in the American electoral climate. Sites across the web are using entertainment, data and engagement techniques to encourage users to cast their votes. Some of the work is satirical, like the Nobama-sponsored Obama cartoon featured at the left of this article, or the user-generated McCain ad to the right of it. Overall, what's out there is a snapshot of how the zeitgeist interprets — and reinterprets — the political atmosphere as Nov. 4 draws near. [source: MarketingVOX]