Town Meeting Presidential Debate at Belmont University in Nashville, TN

Town Meeting Presidential Debate
Curb Event Center
Belmont University, Nashville, TN
Tuesday, October 7, 2008

www.belmontdebate08.com

Pre-Debate: Stage Setters/Expectations
Obama: MEMO: The Town Hall Presidential Debate
Obama: Indiana Amtrak Machinist to Attend Presidential Debate as Guest of Michelle Obama
Obama: OBAMA DEBATE PREBUTTAL: DEBUNKED CLAIMS YOU MIGHT HEAR FROM JOHN MCCAIN TONIGHT (7:24 pm)

During and After: Rapid Response and Spin
Release titles and times are listed here to show the degree of activity; most of the releases themselves are not posted here.
Obama
(time stamps in e-mail)
DEBATE REALITY CHECK: MCCAIN ON DEREGULATOR (9:22 PM)
DEBATE REALITY CHECK: COMPARISON OF TAX PLANS (9:23 PM)
DEBATE REALITY CHECK: FUNDAMENTALS ARE STRONG (9:25 PM)
DEBATE REALITY CHECK: MCCAIN RESPONSE TO FANNIE AND FREDDIE (9:26 PM)
DEBATE REALITY CHECK: MCCAIN'S FALSE ATTACK ON FANNIE & FREDDIE ADVISORS (9:28 PM)
DEBATE REALITY CHECK: OBAMA LED ON FINANCIAL CRISIS (9:31 PM)
DEBATE REALITY CHECK: MCCAIN FOR AMERICAN WORKERS (9:32 PM)
DEBATE REALITY CHECK: IN ANNOUNCING THAT BENEFITS WILL BE CUT, MCCAIN LEAVES OUT RECORD SUPPORTING PRIVATIZATION (9:35 PM)
DEBATE REALITY CHECK: OBAMA'S FISCALLY RESPONSIBLE SPENDING PLAN (9:36 PM)
WaPo Fact Check: Earmarks (9:37 PM)
WaPo FactCheck: Boeing Contract (9:39 PM)
Politico: McCain's plan, and a spending freeze? (9:39 PM)
DEBATE REALITY CHECK: MCCAIN’S HEALTH CARE PLAN (9:40 PM)
DEBATE REALITY CHECK: MCCAIN CAMPAIGN MISSTATES BIDEN RECORD (9:44 PM)
DEBATE REALITY CHECK: MCCAIN'S SPENDING PROPOSALS DON'T ADD UP AND ARE FAR MORE COSTLY THEN OBAMA'S PLANS (9:48 PM)
DEBATE REALITY CHECK: OBAMA WOULD NOT RAISES TAXES ON MOST SMALL BUSINESSES (9:52 PM)
question (Bill Burton) Did John McCain just refer to Obama as “that one”? (9:55 PM)
DEBATE REALITY CHECK: MCCAIN HAS CHANGED HIS POSITION ON THE BUSH TAX CUTS (9:58 PM)
DEBATE REALITY CHECK: MCCAIN’S OIL COMPANY WINDFALL AND RECORD ON ENERGY (10:03 PM)
DEBATE REALITY CHECK: MCCAIN KNOWINGLY USES DEBUNKED ATTACK THAT MAJOR INDEPENDENT FACTCHECKERS HAVE PROVEN UNTRUE (10:04 PM)
DEBATE REALITY CHECK: LOBBYISTS (10:05 PM)
DEBATE REALITY CHECK: 2005 ENERGY BILL (10:08 PM)
DEBATE REALITY CHECK: MCCAIN'S CLAIM THAT OBAMA DOES NOT SUPPORT NUCLEAR POWER IS FALSE (10:13 PM)
DEBATE REALITY CHECK: MCCAIN'S HEALTH CARE PLAN WOULD NOT MANDATE COVERAGE FOR THOSE WITH PRE-EXISTING CONDITIONS (10:16 PM)
DEBATE REALITY CHECK: OBAMA WILL MAKE HEALTH CARE MORE AFFORDABLE FOR SMALL BUSINESS (10:21 PM)
TNR: Less Cancer Screening Under McCain's Plan? Actually, Yes. (10:21 PM)
DEBATE REALITY CHECK: MCCAIN'S JUDGMENT ON IRAQ (10:23 PM)
DEBATE REALITY CHECK: RUSSIA & GEORGIA (10:25 PM)
DEBATE REALITY CHECK: MCCAIN ONLY HAS A PLAN FOR STAYING IN IRAQ (10:27 PM)
DEBATE REALITY CHECK: MCCAIN ON MUSHARRAF (10:29 PM)
DEBATE REALITY CHECK: MCCAIN HAS BEEN RECKLESS TOWARD IRAN (10:32 PM)
DEBATE REALITY CHECK: MCCAIN HAS IGNORED AFGHANISTAN (10:35 PM)
DEBATE REALITY CHECK: MCCAIN HAS TALKED ABOUT THE "THREAT OF EXTINCTION" FOR NORTH KOREA (10:36 PM)
McCain Plan NOT NEW (10:36 PM)
DEBATE REALITY CHECK: OBAMA HAS REPEATEDLY SAID THE SURGE COULD HELP REDUCE VIOLENCE IN IRAQ (10:37 PM)
DEBATE REALITY CHECK: OBAMA SUPPORTS RESPONSIBLE DIPLOMATIC ENGAGEMENT WITH HOSTILE NATIONS (10:38 PM)
DEBATE REALITY CHECK: MCCAIN ON BIN LADEN (10:41 PM)
DEBATE REALITY CHECK: MCCAIN SUPPORTED CUTTING OFF FUNDING FOR TROOPS IN SOMALIA (10:42 PM)
DEBATE REALITY CHECK: TERRORISTS IN PAKISTAN (10:43 PM)
DEBATE REALITY CHECK: RAISING TAXES ON AMERICANS (11:30 PM)
DEBATE REALITY CHECK: WHAT HAPPENED TO PHIL GRAMM? (12:11 AM Oct. 8)

PLOUFFE: Resounding Victory for Obama Making the Case for Change (10:43 PM)
UPDATED PLOUFFE: Resounding Victory for Obama Making the Case for Change (10:48 PM)
McCain again fails to mention "middle class" (10:56 PM)
CBS POLL: Obama Wins Debate 39%-27% (11:06 PM)
CNN POLL: Obama Wins Debate (11:08 PM)
THE VERDICT IS IN: ONE CLEAR WINNER TONIGHT (11:22 PM)
THE DEBATE REVIEWS ARE IN (11:55 PM)
JOHN MCCAIN'S LIES TONIGHT (1:06 AM Oct. 8)

McCain
(times are when posted on the campaign's blog)
posting by Michael Goldfarb... (9:10 PM)
We're Ready
All: Hello from the McCain-Palin war room at Belmont University in Nashville. We stand ready to savage your in-boxes with an overflow of truth and justice. While folks are getting set up for tonight's debate, we want to alert you to one particular set of utterly false Obama attacks that he's certain to repeat again tonight.
The Obama-Biden campaign has repeatedly charged that John McCain's health care reform plan represents the "largest increase on middle-class taxpayers in American history," a charge that virtually every independent fact-checking organization and major news outlet has called "false" and "wrong." Indeed, the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center -- which is routinely cited by the Obama campaign on other issues -- has said there's no basis for Obama's attack, and further made clear that middle-class families under McCain's plan would see their after-tax income rise, with "very generous" tax credits. See below for more on this.

John McCain's American Homeownership Resurgence Plan (9:10 PM)

DEBATE FACT #1: BARACK OBAMA HAS MUCH TALK BUT NO LEADERSHIP (9:11 PM)
DEBATE FACT #2: WHEN OBAMA WAS "SILENT," JOHN MCCAIN WAS WARNING ABOUT FREDDIE AND FANNIE (9:19 PM)
DEBATE FACT #3: THE 1999 DEREGULATION THAT JOE BIDEN SUPPORTED (9:22 PM)
DEBATE FACT #4: BARACK OBAMA VOTED YES ON NEARLY EVERY SPENDING BILL (EVEN UNDER BUSH) (9:25 PM)
DEBATE FACT #5: RATING THE TWO CANDIDATES (9:28 PM)
DEBATE FACT #6: BARACK OBAMA'S OUT OF CONTROL SPENDING (9:32 PM)
DEBATE FACT #7: BARACK OBAMA'S SUPPORT FOR EARMARKS (9:34 PM)
DEBATE FACT #8: BARACK OBAMA HAS A STRONG TAX INCREASE AGENDA (9:46 PM)
DEBATE FACT #9: OBAMA: "I AM NOT A NUCLEAR ENERGY PROPONENT" (9:50 PM)
DEBATE FACT #10: BARACK OBAMA VOTED FOR THE 2005 ENERGY BILL (9:54 PM)
DEBATE FACT #11: BARACK OBAMA'S COSTLY HEALTH CARE PLAN (10:02 PM)
DEBATE FACT #12: BARACK OBAMA'S BAD PAKISTAN POLICY (10:14 PM)

Statement From Communications Director Jill Hazelbaker (10:46 PM)
What They're Saying About John McCain At The Nashville Debate (11:19 PM)
What They're Saying About John McCain At The Nashville Debate Volume 2 (12:05 AM Oct. 8)

and
RNC CHAIRMAN DUNCAN RESPONDS TO PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE (11:51)

"Barack Obama won a resounding victory in John McCain's favorite debate format because he made the case for change that will rebuild the middle class. The American people asked tough questions tonight, and only Barack Obama was is in touch with their struggles and offered clear and passionate answers about creating jobs, reducing health care costs, cutting taxes for 95% of working families, and responsibly ending the war in Iraq. John McCain was all over the map on the issues, and he is so angry about the state of his campaign that he referred to Barack Obama as 'that one' – last time he couldn’t look at Senator Obama, this time he couldn’t say his name. The McCain campaign said, 'if we keep talking about the economy, we're going to lose,' and John McCain definitely lost tonight."

Obama-Biden campaign manager David Plouffe

"Tonight, John McCain won the debate. He was the only man who demonstrated he had the independence and strength to take on everything that's broken in Washington and on Wall Street. John McCain had a clear plan for improving the lives of Americans -- keeping them in their homes through his American Homeownership Resurgence Plan. From Barack Obama, we heard half-truths and contradictions between what he says and what he has done. He said he supported offshore drilling but has opposed it for months. He talked about tax cuts but he voted for higher taxes 94 times and promises increased taxes on small businesses. He talked about reducing the size of government but has proposed hundreds of billions of dollars in new government spending. Tonight, Barack Obama had an opportunity to level with the American people, but instead all we heard was more of the same."

McCain-Palin 2008 Communications Director Jill Hazelbaker