Cheney vs. Edwards: VP Candidates Debate

The Vice-Presidential debate between Vice-President Cheney and Senator Edwards was excellent, with both men scoring critically needed points on one another.

I gave the edge to Cheney on foreign policy and the overall debate, while Edwards did better in domestic issues. The debate did get heated in some spots, and Cheney was able to get Kerry’s voting record back on the table. Since people still do not know who John Kerry is, they have to look at how the senator voted on various issues over the last twenty years to determine where he stands on issues and what is important to Kerry.

The picture there is confusing at best. Kerry knows this, and that's why his campaign is telling voters not to look to the past, but to the future.

I also saw no signs of cheating, which is very good news. Both stretched the truth as only politicians can, and now the various news web sites and networks are analyzing both candidates' statements for accuracy. But they were both on even ground, and the rules were enforced by the moderator.

It was obvious that Edwards was on Cheney’s ground and was uncomfortable with it. I liked Edwards during the Democratic primary because he was always more positive than the other candidates (I preferred Joe Lieberman on the Democratic side). But last night he had to fight Cheney in a negative way, and he didn’t do as well as he would have if his orders weren’t to “get Cheney” or “hold Cheney accountable,” as the political banners on CNN’s web site are loudly proclaiming this morning. Journalistic integrity on display at cnn.com?

Now, about the morning-after polls: my advice would to be to ignore the polls that are coming out. They can manipulate the data by interviewing more Democrats or Republicans to get the result that they want to see and by interviewing fewer undecided voters. That’s why so many polls have had different results. It all depends on who they are polling, not what they are polling about.