In just a few hours John McCain and Barack Obama will meet for their third and final debate. Given the anxiety that exists tonight in America, this debate will likely focus on the economy and our current credit crisis. I won’t blame the media nor will I blame the candidates for spending their time on this issue. However, I believe voters and the candidates ignore, at great peril, the war in Iraq and a debate about the sickening mentality that led our country into this deadly conflict.

Let’s not forget about the war in Iraq.

To the troops who watch tonight’s debate in far away and unfamiliar places we say thank you for your service and we’ll get you home soon.

For our Bay Area friends looking for entertainment for tonight’s debate. No word yet whether they will have another TV with the Phillies game on.

In case you hadn’t already heard: Hungry for Obama is hosting a BBQ and debate viewing (on a 63-inch TV with speakers) in Dolores Park (San Francisco) tonight. The BBQ will start at 5 pm; the debate is from 6-7:30. It should be a lot of fun — we had nearly 100 people last week for the second debate. If we’re lucky, there’ll even be some post-debate slacklining.

Come find us at the southern end of the park near the playground.

We’ll have a laptop on hand so that everyone can use their credit cards to make contributions to the Obama campaign. ($20 minimum, please.) If you have a laptop and wireless modem and you’d be willing to bring them so that we can have more than one Internet connection available, we’d be extremely grateful.

The food will be free, with small contributions welcome from those so inclined.

See you there!

Hungry For Obama has been organizing dinner party fundraisers for the Obama campaign over the last month, raising over $36,000 in that time.

After the debate ended last night, I got a couple emails and texts from friends and family who wanted to know what I thought about the show. Here are some of my musings on last nights debate.

Gov. Palin went into the debate with a pretty easy task - she couldn’t fall, she couldn’t have another deer-in-headlights moment, she couldn’t trip over words - she simply had to be Sarah Palin. To that end, she accomplished her singular goal. I don’t think she fell, she hit her basic talking points and she didn’t get lost in her words, like we saw in the network interviews.

However, she didn’t answer questions, she evaded policy issues, she brought everything back to the topics she wanted to discuss and personally, I found her folksy “Joe six-pack” lingo and overall presentation to be absolutely nauseating.

Seriously folks, we tried the slow-talking, colloquial, down home politician thing - his name was George W. Bush. How well did that work out?

Sarah Palin is out of her league, not because she is a woman, but because she’s not up to the task of running America. She regurgitated a stump speech last night and showed no mastery or command of issues. The mere thought of he serving as Vice President of the United States literally scares me. She’s not ready for prime time, she’s not ready to lead America.

For his part, Biden was good. I expected Biden to be good, he’s been at this for many years. He showed a command of policy, a leadership on important issues and even showed an emotional side when he spoke of his family and the loss of his first wife in a tragic car accident when he was 29 years old.

Last night’s debate didn’t move voters. It may have stopped the Palin slide that we’ve seen over the past couple weeks, but I don’t think anyone changed their mind based on the performance of either of these candidates. At the end of the day, I urge Americans to think past the novelty of Sarah Palin and remember that Bush is our living, breathing example that hiring someone into the executive merely on style is a mistake. Listen to what these people are saying, not just how they are saying it. This time around, I have confidence in the American people to do the right thing.

If you missed the debate, here’s the full broadcast courtesy of our friends at MSNBC.

Gov. Palin has been on the national stage for just about a months time. Is she ready to serve as Vice President, or even President, should something happen to 72 year old John McCain? Well, you decide.

In what could be the most critical days remaining in the race for the Democratic nomination it appears, as Senator Obama said in last night’s CNN debate, that it is truly “silly season in politics.” During the debate, Sen. Clinton continued her line of attack concerning alleged “plagiarism” by Sen. Obama and hit him hard, calling his lines, “change you can xerox.”

Obama’s use of Governor Patrick’s rhetoric does not constitute plagiarism therefore rendering her attacks false and pretty truly silly. Americans are looking for solutions, not canned attacks.

Yet, it’s still worth noting that Sen. Clinton has done the exact same thing over the course of her campaign - a glaring example taking place just last night:

Hillary Clinton: “You know, the hits I’ve taken in life are nothing compared to what goes on every single day in the lives of people across our country.”

Bill Clinton 1992: “The hits that I took in this election are nothing compared to the hits the people of this state and this country have been taking for a long time.”

I think people are really tired of this story. It truly is just silly.

UPDATE on the silliness: CNN has picked up the story

Cross-posted at Huffington Post:

Since Iowa’s caucuses on Thursday there has been substantial focus on young voter turnout and its impact on election 2008. Now, the leading candidates have left the Hawkeye state and are taking their messages to New Hampshire voters, each hoping that their variation on the “change” theme will make them more appealing.

We packed our van and set-off to explore how young voters feel about change here in New Hampshire and which candidate will benefit most from this energy. There was no lack of excitement.

Photo by Cameron Hickey

We began the day with Barack Obama’s landing at the Portsmouth airport bright and early and ended as the sun set at New England College with Mike Huckabee.

Photo by Joshua Skaroff

We are preparing for tonight’s ABC/Facebook debate from Manchester, NH. We’ll be at the venue early and inside the spin room for post-debate reaction. Look for a photo wire throughout the evening as well as audio and video from the debate site.

“He says our president don’t have a plan. I think he’s got one….[But] we’re not going to tell you what our plan is, Jon, because you’re just going to go out and blow it.”

– Sen. Conrad Burns (R-MT), quoted by the Billings Gazette, in a debate with challenger Jon Tester (D) over the Iraq War.

This morning, Rep. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) debated Sen. Mike DeWine (R-OH) on NBC’s Meet The Press moderated by Tim Russert.

I thought Brown did a great job taking on DeWine. He kept him on the defensive and painted him as ineffective. He also hammered the Senator on his negative campaign and there were times when DeWine couldn’t defend his own record. DeWine spent much of the debate ducking Russert’s questions.

Here is the transcript.

Below, you’ll also find transcripts to the other Meet The Press debates from the past couple weeks.

OHIO: Sherrod Brown v. Mike DeWine

VIRGINIA: Jim Webb v. George Allen

PENNSYLVANIA: Bob Casey v. Rick Santorum