Well, the first debate is in the can. The two seemed pretty evenly matched in terms of debating skills. I present to you the notes I took while watching:

McCain campaign spokesperson Brian Rogers recently said “We’re running a campaign to win. And we’re not too concerned about what the media filter tries to say about it.” Rogers was responding to accusations that the campaign was sinking to new lows with its fabrications about earmarks, bridges to nowhere, and lipstick-wearing pigs.

By suggesting he might back out of the debate with Obama on Friday without first informing the Obama campaign, McCain seems to be doing anything but “putting politics aside.”

I just had to remark on the ad for Rep. Virgil Goode I just saw while waiting for David Letterman to come on. The voiceover said “Independent-minded. Working for us.” The tagline: “Independent voice.”

So a dominant right-wing meme about the mortgage crisis seems to be that it was caused by the 1977 Community Reinvestment Act, intended to help minorities achieve home ownership. Apparently this load of bunk has been making the rounds for many months now and was recently amplified by the likes of Neil Cavuto and other talking heads on Fox News.

Republicans’ fixation on welfare never ceases to amaze me. Many times throughout this campaign season, I have heard the familiar refrain of “I won’t vote for a Democrat because I don’t want my taxes going to some lazy bum who refuses to work”

I got so wrapped up in the Women for Obama rally and then my cartoon deadline that I haven’t had a chance to remark on the vortex of doom that seems to be swallowing our economy. John McCain said something last week that struck me as particularly laughable.

Yesterday’s Women for Obama rally, while decidedly light on attacks on the McCain campaign, contained the single most important message the Dems can deliver about McCain and women.

I’m about to head out to attend the Virginia Women for Obama Rally featuring Michelle Obama, Jill Biden, and Goodyear sex discrimination victim Lilly Ledbetter.