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9:04 -- Mr. McCain, can we please, please not talk about greed driving the credit crisis? Do we need a Republican candidate for this?

9:05 -- McCain is proposing spending $300 million to keep people in their houses. From whence is this figure?

9:06 -- The bailout was an "important first step." See generally Robert Higgs, Crisis and Leviathan.

9:06 -- Mr. Obama, when you say that the fundamentals of the economy were weak before the crisis, what do you mean?

9:07 -- Obama makes a sound point about McCainapos;s mortgage buyout plan as being essentially a subsidy for banks.

9:08 -- I knew I was in love during the first debate this year, when the boy I was watching with it rolled over and said, "I hate these sentimental sob stories that politicians tell about average voters they met somewhere." This emotion is redoubling as McCain tells a sentimental sob story about an average voter.

9:09 -- Can the bogeyman "Exxon Mobil" be banned from public debate henceforth? It would be so, so helpful for discussing economic policy.

9:10 -- Alas, Mr. Obama, you also want to regulate the hell out of small businesses.

9:11 -- STOP TALKING ABOUT JOE THE EFFING PLUMBER

Unrelatedly, I knew I was in love when same boy told me that he thought it was stupid that parents tell their young children to eat all of their dinner because some children out there donapos;t have dinner. "The dinner is a sunk cost. Whether or not they finish it, theyapos;re not going to be able to transfer the cost of the meal to anyone. I am going to explain the concept of a sunk cost to my young children." And I know he will.

No, that had nothing to do with the debate. But it was semi-related to a point a few points up, and I needed a break from the onscreen inanity about the goddamn plumber.

9:14 -- Now they are both going to be painfully vague about spending cuts.

9:15 -- Is there a snowballapos;s chance in hell of Obama and the Democratic Congress actually cutting spending? Still, the green line on the bottom of the screen is really high right now.

9:18 -- McCain is also talking about cutting spending. The green and orange lines are soaring.

What is the red line on the chart? CNN says Orange is women, and Green is men, but then whatapos;s the red one?

McCain was against the ethanol subsidy? I didnapos;t know that Thatapos;s the best thing Iapos;ve heard all night.

9:19 -- Obama critiques the across the board spending freeze proposal. Sadly, heapos;s probably right about it not being feasible. Ditto on earmarks.

9:21 -- McCainapos;s line - "If you wanted to run against President Bush, you shouldapos;ve run four years ago" -- is a good one.

9:22 -- McCain name checks Citizens Against Government Waste and the National Taxpayers Union. Theyapos;re both great free market groups. I have friends at each. Huzzah

9:22 -- There was something on Overlawyered about why Obamaapos;s claim to have taken a bipartisan stance on tort reform is specious. Iapos;ll have to Google it later. Remind me to update this if you care particularly.

9:24 -- McCain also opposed the Medicare drug benefit. I did know about that, but itapos;s good to be reminded of it. Makes me feel better about him.

9:25 -- Pointed attack on the negative campaign tactics Let the circus begin

9:30 --McCain favors federal funding for stem cell research. Hm.

9:33 -- Palinapos;s "pal around with terrorists" crack comes up Theater

9:34 -- Well, McCain gave a reasonably dignified response to that.

9:35 -- Obama is also giving a civilized response to this question. The green lines are going up. Interestingly, the orange ones are going up even higher. Do women care more about civility than men?

9:36 -- Now we get to hear about Bill Ayers.

9:37 -- Obama flags how young he was when Ayersapos; acts took places. He notes who else was on that board with him, including several Republicans and non-political types. He highlights that Ayers hasnapos;t been involved in the campaign. A fair answer, and Iapos;ve always thought that this was silly.

9:38 -- A brief answer about the ACORN pseudo-scandal.

Now Obama starts talking about whom he associates with, including Warren Buffett and Dick Lugar.

The green and orange lines are high. The orange lines are higher.

9:39 -- Did he or didnapos;t he launch his campaign from Ayersapos; living room? This is easily falsifiable, no?

9:40 -- Obama does look a bit like Curious George. It had to be said.

9:40 -- A direct Biden/Palin comparison. This debate is aiming for the red meat.

9:41 -- It has to be said; there are no actual working class people in northeastern PA who are actually excited about Joe Biden.

9:42 -- I need to read up on energy independence at some point.

9:43 -- Itapos;s interesting that Obama didnapos;t take any of the obvious shots at Sarah Palin.

Meanwhile, the green and orange lines are soaring as McCain talks about Palin, despite all of the very real negatives Iapos;ve seen about her in the past weeks.

9:44 -- What the hell is the red line?

Obama is thrown an opportunity to take a direct shot at Palin. He avoids taking it. Interesting, and probably the right thing to do. But he does take a very light dig at her position on special needs funding, saying that itapos;s impossible to maintain the spending freeze as McCain wants to and still fund special needs programs appropriately.

9:46 -- The spending comments raise good points, but are a little out of place. Why didnapos;t McCain bring them up earlier?

9:52 -- McCain says that heapos;s a free trader. Thatapos;s mildly reassuring.

Heapos;s coming off as wonkish again with his discussion of the Colombian Free Trade agreement. As discussed on these pages regarding the earlier debates, maybe thatapos;s reassuring. But probably not persuasive to already undecided voters.

9:56 -- I really know nothing about health policy. So this segment is going to be listenable.

9:59 -- None of what McCain is saying about health care sounds remotely libertarian.

10:00 -- But the part about having a fine for not buying health insurance is reassuringly libertarian.

Interestingly, men are taking a more positive view of this than are women.

10:03 -- STOP TALKING ABOUT JOE THE PLUMBER

10:06 -- Two of my Facebook friends also just posted plumber jokes as status updates.

10:06 -- Oooh Oooh Roe Roe

10:07 -- McCain says he wonapos;t make it a litmus test. Heapos;s taking the federalist position. This is exactly what he should say. Though the qualifications test is a bit useless: there are too many supremely well-qualified people to pick on the basis of qualifications alone.

10:08 -- He takes a hit at Obama for voting against Roberts and Alito for ideological reasons. Itapos;s a good hit to take.

10:09 - Obama is also against using Roe as a litmus test. But he says it was rightly decided, but without elaborating further. But all of his answers are social policy arguments.

Where does he believe the basis to the right to privacy lies? And isnapos;t he talking about Griswold, which established the right to privacy, rather than Roe itself?

10:10 -- Ledbetter. Look, itapos;s possible to feel sorry for women who are underpaid. But statutes of limitations are on the books for a reason. And can you imagine what a nightmare for employers a decision the other way would have been? It would have been a boon to plaintiffsapos; lawyers, but...

10:12 -- Now weapos;ll talk about Obamaapos;s vote on the partial birth abortion ban in IL.

10:13 -- McCain seems to be getting angrier in this debate.

10:13 -- Apparently the relevant law wouldapos;ve been redundant. Also covered by Illinois doctorsapos;s self-regulations.

10:15 -- "Health of the mother" is an extreme pro-abortion position?? Is this really an argument McCain wants to make?

10:16 -- The lack of a link between money and performance

10:18 -- National service. I need to dig up the relevant Volokh posts and incorporate them by reference. Then Obama makes some positive noises about parental responsibility.

10:27 -- McCain has a sharp retort about vouchers.

10:28 -- McCain gives a litany of domestic policy positions. He stumbles a few times. Thereapos;s no clear theme, except maybe for the good steward of your money bit.

10:29 -- Obamaapos;s theme appears to be "change." Brighter days are still ahead; echoes of FDR.

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