Tonight's debate is in McCain's favorite style

Tonight the expectations for John McCain are sky high. Unlike at the VP debate where Team McCain successfully lowered the bar to the floor, if McCain doesn't crush Obama it will be a disappointment and even the Republican pundits will not be able to claim victory.

Tonight's debate may be in McCain's preferred style, but it won't be his usual hand picked audience.  Not all the questions will be friendly and answerable with one line zingers.

It will be most interesting to see how he reacts to negative questions from the audience.

Yeah sure hes good at town hall when no one else is there and its for people who support him.

He will look just as out of touch as he did during the first debate.

"It's the Economy, Stupid!"

It will be interesting. I wonder if he'll take his cue from Ms. Palin and inform Tom Brokaw that he may not respond directly to the questions as asked, but wants to take this opportunity to lie...er, speak to the American people. That way, he could concentrate on disparaging Sen. Obama without having to really focus on those annoying issues like the economy and healthcare.

BTW, Independent Voter, the bar was lowered for Ms. Palin. Everyone knows that her supporters were simply hoping she could muddle through the debate without spouting unintelligible gibberish or coming completely unglued. Because she managed to do a little better than than, her performance was labeled a success.

No telling whats going to happen tonight. Mccain seems to be a little behind and after the vp debate i dont know whats going to happen. We can only just wait and see i guess.

During this time of economic instability, millions of Americans will be looking to you for real answers on how to safeguard their home and health.

You'll encounter a lot of questions from the audience during the October 7 debate - but you'll also have a chance to make an opening statement and make additional comments.

Please address these three key issues - reflected in the questions generated by thousands of AARP members - during your comments:

1. How will you guarantee that Americans who work hard are able to save for retirement or plan for the unexpected?

2. What will you do to ensure affordable quality health care for all Americans?

3. How will you cut through the partisan gridlock and work across the aisle to deliver real change for American families?

We need to know not just what you propose, but how you plan to work across the aisle to actually get the job done. America is hurting right now, and I won't stand for more stalling, arguing, or bickering. We are looking to the next President to lead the way. Please take the time to address the three questions above during your comments on October 7.

Click here to tell Senators McCain and Obama that you want real answers on these issues during the debate.

Additionally, Congress should pass legislation to:

1. Fund the National Infrastructure Bank to leverage federal resources to fund worthy, approved clean infrastructure projects (which would not only increase funds available to infrastructure, but also represent a vast improvement over the earmark system).

2. Modernize the electrical grid through use of smart computer technology and more transmission capacity, both to manage demand and move America's tremendous wealth of wind and solar power to where it is needed.

3. Provide tax credits for Americans to winterize their homes as the cold weather approaches.

4. Provide tax credits for the purchase of Energy Star appliances to reduce demand for electricity.

5. Provide aid to states and cities to expand mass transportation service and perform maintenance on overburdened systems.

6. Provide a tax credit to people who buy a new, fuel efficient car and take an old gas guzzling jalopy off the road, which has the added bonus of aiding the weakened automobile industry.

There are other ways for Congress to promote clean infrastructure going forward -- through funding rail, promoting green national building standards and updating our electricity regulation regime to promote distributed generation of renewable power, among other approaches. But these six proposals can help us move toward clean infrastructure now as we get the economy moving again.

We can do it if you will reach out to your friends, family, and colleagues and get them to sign up, too.

Thank you for your continued support, James Everitt

I am deffinetly excited about this debate. It will have to be a good one since it is only four weeks before America votes. Both McCain and Obama will be brining it hard tonight. McCain will probably attack Obama's character but that is just part of debates. Hopefully, they'll stay on track and talk about what America really cares about. For the people who still aren't sure who they will vote for, this could be the turning point. For both McCain and Obama this is make it or break it time.

Honestly, i have no idea who will win the second debate. Both Canidates, McCain and Obama, are very strong speakers, and both make valid points. I guess the only thing to do is sit back and watch, and see what happenes. Best of luck to the both of them

considering the previous debates between Mc Cain and Obama i think that obama has a stronger chance of winning because his strong feeling about the cmmunities of america.

Will McCain make eye contact with Obama? Can McCain make people believe that he has any answers at all or is it continuing deregulation? Will McCain lose his temper? Is McCain a "Sociopath"?

Anyone taking bets?

considering the previous debates between Mc Cain and Obama i think that obama has a stronger chance of winning because his strong feeling about the cmmunities of america.

John McCain sealed his fate in this election by not not blocking the Senate vote on the bailout.

His campaign was predicated upon not allowing "earmarks." Well, old John surfaced and lo and behold, USD129billion in worthless "earmarks." Added to a USD700billion bailout of Wall Street types.

Way to go John. I'm voting for Chuck Baldwin - Constituion Party. To hell with your flip-flops.

John McCain sealed his fate in this election by not not blocking the Senate vote on the bailout.

His campaign was predicated upon not allowing "earmarks." Well, old John surfaced and lo and behold, USD129billion in worthless "earmarks." Added to a USD700billion bailout of Wall Street types.

Way to go John. I'm voting for Chuck Baldwin - Constituion Party. To hell with your flip-flops.

The debate tonight may be in McCain's favor but that doesn't mean he will win. But he does have a good chance at winning because in past debates Obama hasn't done very well without his teleprompter. But I guess we will see tonight.

Now that Obama is finally participating in a town hall meeting with this guy, does that mean that McCain will start running a respectful campaign like he said he would do?

If I were Obama I would push all of McCain's buttons until he explodes in front 70million viewers.

Let them see this erratic, steam-kettle of a mis-manager as their next commander in chief.

McCain/Palin  = the hothead, and the airhead.

Even though McCain says he likes the town hall format, what he REALLY likes is a pseudo town hall format where he and his operatives get to hand pick the people asking the questions.

It will be interesting to see which of the audience proposed questions Brokaw chooses put before the candidates.  It would also be very interesting to see which questions Brokaw rejects (wishful thinking).

The verdict is in. At a time when the terrible, terrible state of the economy is causing US citizens such as the guy in California to kill this morning his wife, three children, mother-in-law and self, why do we continue to participate in mudslinging. The state of our economy is a very serious and grave issue at this time. We can not waste time engaging in mudslinging that the only purpose it serves is to divert the very, very serious issues of the economy that our country is faced with. I think we as Americans are very capable of determining one’s character, thats our job and we don’t need any help in accomplishing it. Please this is our time (the American People), we have a decision to make on Nov 4, which is only weeks away. We would ask that the candidates not waste any more of our time trying to influence the us whether or not someones character is upstanding, we can do that. What we wish would be done is for the candidates to take time and share a strategy dealing with the economy with us that we don’t loose anymore people as we already have in the case in California to collateral damage.

Obama definitely has the connections to Wall Street.

Here is a quick look into 3 former Fannie Mae executives who have brought down Wall Street.

Franklin Raines was a Chairman and Chief Executive Officer at Fannie Mae.  Raines was forced to retire from his position with Fannie Mae  when auditing discovered severe irregulaties in Fannie Mae's accounting activities. At the time of his departure The Wall Street Journal noted, " Raines, who long defended the company's accounting despite mounting evidence that it wasn't proper, issued a statement late Tuesday conceding that "mistakes were made" and saying he would assume responsibility as he had earlier promised. News reports indicate the company was und er growing pressure from regulators to shake up its management in the wake of findings that the company's books ran afoul of generally accepted accounting principles for four years."  Fannie Mae had to reduce its surplus by $9 billion.

Raines left with a "golden parachute valued at $240 Million in benefits. The Government filed suit against Raines when the depth of the accounting scandal became clear. C2. The Government noted, "The 101 charges reveal how the individuals improperly manipulated earnings to maximize their bonuses, while knowingly neglecting accounting systems and internal controls, misapplying over twenty accounting principles and misleading the regulator and the public. The Notice explains how they submitted six years of misleading and inaccurate accounting statements and inaccurate capital reports that enabled them to grow Fannie Mae in an unsafe and unsound manner."  These charges were made in 2006.  The Court ordered Raines to return $50 Million Dollars he received in bonuses based on the miss-stated Fannie Mae profits.

Tim Howard -  Was the Chief Financial Officer of Fannie Mae. Howard "was a strong internal proponent of using accounting strategies that would ensure a "stable pattern of earnings" at Fannie. In everyday English - he was cooking the books.  The Government Investigation determined that, "Chief Financial Officer, Tim Howard, failed to provide adequate oversight to key control and reporting functions within Fannie Mae,"

On June 16, 2006, Rep. Richard Baker, R-La., asked the Justice Department to investigate his allegations that two former Fannie Mae executives lied to Congress in October 2004 when they denied manipulating the mortgage-finance giant's income statement to achieve management pay bonuses. Investigations by federal regulators and the company' s board of directors since concluded that management did manipulate 1998 earnings to trigger bonuses. Raines and Howard resigned under pressure in late 2004.

Howard's Golden Parachute was estimated at $20 Million!

Jim Johnson -   A former executive at Lehman Brothers and who was later forced from his position as Fannie Mae CEO.   A look at the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight's May 2006 on mismanagement and corruption inside Fannie Mae, and you'll see some interesting things about John son. Investigators found that Fannie Mae had hidden a substantial amount of John son's 1998 compensation from the public, reporting that it was between $6 million and $7 million when it fact it was $21 million."    Johnson is currently under investigation for taking illegal loans from Countrywide while serving as CEO of Fannie Mae. 

Johnson's Golden Parachute was estimated at $28 Million.

WHERE ARE THEY NOW?

FRANKLIN RAINES? Raines works for the Obama Campaign as Chief Economic Advisor

TIM HOWARD?  Howard is also a Chief Economic Advisor to Obama

JIM JOHNSON?  Johnson hired as a Senior Obama Finance Advisor and was selected to run Obama's Vice Presidential Search Committee

IF OBAMA PLANS ON CLEANING UP THE MESS - HIS ADVISORS HAVE THE EXPERTISE - THEY MADE THE MESS IN THE FIRST PLACE.   Would you trust the men who tore Wall Street down to build the New Wall Street ?

When is the last time John McCain went to church?

I think you should check this out for yourself. If you believe only the good about a candidate you are naive.

I am not for either candidate. I just get tired of all the people who can't see the whole picture.  Anyone that believes this is a one party problem is swallowing everything that party is saying and that is the same thing politicians have been doing to us for the last 50 years but evidently we are not smart enough to figure that out.