How did Obama do in the primary debates?

[Pb]

I didn't watch them, but it might give us a clue about his performance in the debates versus McCain.

[HankB]

IMHO, McCain & Palin ought to be preparing as if Obama & Biden were highly polished debaters . . . they need to work their buns off in preparation as if they were the underdogs.

Hopefully, they have a good "opposition research" staff and can come up with a few actors (?) to fill the shoes of their opponents during rehearsals.

Especially for the debate on NBC where Tom Brokaw is the moderator . . . they need to assume he's going to push the NBC line and be an advocate for the Democrats. (Actually, in order to agree to an NBC-hosted debate, they should have insisted on a FOX debate to provide balance.)

[El Tejon]

Keyes took himself out.  The Republicans could not have won in Illinois that year even if they ran Michael Jordan.

[roo_ster]

BHO, as is his habit, was better when he could deliver a memorized portion of his stump speech.  Usually, Hillary come off better than BHO in a more free-wheeling setting.

[Manedwolf]

They're not debates. They're softballs to be answered with talking points.

I want the candidates to debate each OTHER.

[ronnyreagan]

He says "uh" and "um" a lot, but if you're not bothered by that he does ok in debates. Nothing spectacular, but certainly not as strong as his speeches. I'm looking forward to Friday's debate, I wish they had scheduled more.