I think both will do well and I don’t think it’ll be nearly as one-sided as the first Presidential debate.
I heard Chris Matthews say he’ll be counting the times the word “Haliburton” is said as an indication of how well Edwards keeps the pressure on Cheney.
I also read this is Edwards first career debate!?
Thoughts?
Oops, eastcoasttri beat me to the punch!
Thanks for killing my thread! 
Well, i’ll keep yours going since we’re the only two interested in this so far today. I was actually reading up on it. I heard that it’s true that Edwards has no debate experience… However, he is a trial lawyer so I wouldn’t count him out… Although it’s debatable (pun intended) whether or not his lawyer experience will translate to good debate form.
I will say this though… Edwards has him beat in the battle of charisma.
P.s. I read there will be no podiums? It’s going to be a roundtable type discussion… still i’m tuning in.
Don’t forget that if Edwards steps out of line… Cheney might just drop the F bomb on him! It all depends if Cheney takes his medication or not. I think you’re probably right that it doesn’t matter. It still could prove entertaining.
Edwards will be charming and articulate and just “off” on enough issues to make Cheney mad. Cheney will then come off as gruff and exasperated.
Cheney speaks best in a one-on-one setting; his public speaking before a crowd is unremarkable at its best and downright damaging at its worst.
Those are my predictions FWIW.
Edwards would have had some debate experience from the primaries, but clearly Cheney has the edge in experience.
The agreement was that they would stay seated, likely this is because Cheney is much shorter than Edwards and Rove & co. didn’t want Cheney to look “short”, which apparently is pretty important to likely voters (shrug).
Thanks eastcoast, sorry about that!
It would seem to be a fairly even match going in with Edwards winning the charisma factor and Cheney with the experience so I don’t think either would come in with a lot more expectation than the other. I think if Edwards is effective he can put him on a defensive on a lot of issues, but Cheney won’t get rattled like Bush did so he’ll minimize the impact. Edwards can be more aggressive than Kerry was at taking on the Bush Admin, where Kerry was walking a fine line between attacking but not looking overly negative.
Look for Edwards to hit early and hit hard to get Cheney on the defensive, that strategy worked great for Kerry. Pretty sure I read that Cheney won the coin flip so he’ll be answering first however.
Probably come down to spin, and how much it will matter I don’t know. The pressure is on Cheney to stop the momentum shift but its also on Edwards to keep it going and increase it.
Kind of nerve wracking to be hitting all topics in one debate though…should be interesting…I’ll be tuning in as well.
No worries TTT, I was just having fun with you…
I like your breakdown… Although, i’m still sticking to my thought in a post last week:
Cheney should come out in a Darth Vader outfit… Edwards should come out as Luke Skywalker.
Interesting breakdown of why the Veep debates can be interesting pointed out by Alan Shroeder on CNN:
“The vice presidential debates are a little looser, they tend to be a little nastier,” Schroeder said. “For the audience they can make for more interesting television.”
First Rummie admits there is no hard link between Al Qaeda and Iraq and now Paul Bremer says they didn’t have enough boots on the ground to secure Iraq.
Are they deliberately trying to give Edwards ammunition for tonights debate?
Seriously,
It’s almost as if they’re getting “cocky”. Bremer and Rummy, can’t be that dumb… Although, now I know why the administration tries to keep Rummy from talking as much as possible.
Brian,
Just to help you out… Shortcut commands (in case you’re not aware)
Copy - Ctrl + C
Paste - Ctrl + V
That ends today’s lesson in “copying and pasting”… tommorow’s lesson “How post pictures”
John Kerry and John Edwards, along with the French, are all CHEESE-EATING SURRENDER MONKEYS!! (hee-hee).
Question: Can anyone name any significant legislative accomplishment of John Kerry’s in all his 20 years in the Senate? I mean, there’s a “McCain-Feingold” Act, a “Graham-Rudman-Hollings” Act, a “Roth IRA”, “Pell Grants”, “Fulbright Scholarships” and so forth. Even Robert Byrd, reprobate and self-anointed expert parliamentarian, probably has a thousand bridges, tunnels and expressways named after him back in West Virginnie 
What’s the guy done besides miss a ton of committee and floor meetings and kvetch from the backbench?
Bush isn’t my most favorite person in the world, either, but he’s got a verifiable record of performance going back to his governorship of Texas, and he’s running on it and at least asking us to judge him on it. On the other hand, Kerry’s asking all of us to take a big chance based on just about his word alone, and his admittedly-valorous behavior over a 4.5 month period of his life over 35 years ago.
I personally don’t think it’s enough.
Tony
You forgot Ctrl + A to Select ALL.
– Bush isn’t my most favorite person in the world
Come clean Tony, you have a picture of Dubya on your desk don’t you?
Not on my desk…he hangs directly behind me, over my head, in my office Actually, I don’t do pictures. Not even one of my wife in my office. In the industry that I work in (the airlines), my employees would see something like a Dubya photo and go berserk. I’d find my car vandalized in the parking lot and whatnot.
And they’d end up defacing the wife’s picture, too For being some of the most highly-paid nonskilled labor in the country, they’re sure some of the most angry, right now, for various reasons.
Tony