Well, that was interesting...

Last night, I saw my favorite debate format I've ever seen.  I thought the set up was awesome.  I loved having the candidates face each other...even though there were times when I thought a fist-fight just might break out.  This made for a great segment of television drama for me.

In the end, neither candidate shared anything new.  Personally, I thought that the explanation of positions was better than in previous years.  In an election as big as this one (btw, doesn't every election advertise as the "most important in our nation's history"?), I know that substance ought to win out over style.  For McCain's sake, it will have to.  Per the focus groups, I heard from last night, McCain came across as angry and frazzled, much more than Obama did.  I realize that the opinion is different on a certain "fair and balanced" network, but I watched the whole thing and I got that impression a little.  Obama came across to me as more presidential in his demeanor the whole night.

The button that I finally push will depend on much more than how the candidate appeared in a three nationally televised debates.  I have much more at stake...my kids have much more at stake.  I will do my best to push through the negative ads I've seen on television - which took up way too much time in last night's debate.  On a bit of a side note:  I've been accused of leaning left in this election and I have to tell you that if I knew nothing about either candidate and only went off the tenor of emails that have been forwarded to me, I'd be more than leaning left.  In some attempts to woo me, I have received some of the most hateful and untrue emails from friends regarding Senator Obama.  I have not received one single email about McCain - negative or positive.  This is where some of my rub comes,when it comes to elections.  Sell me on your candidate by telling me why he would be the best, not why the other one would be worse.  Somebody tell me where my values as a Christ-follower show up in your candidate of choice.

I like Senator Obama better than I like Senator McCain.  But that's not a reason to vote someone into the presidency.  I is an educated person and I'd like to think that my brain is capable of separating the two.  I've done it before, and I think I'll do it again.  A friend of mine said yesterday that she's just sick of the whole thing and would like to ditch them both and start over.  Well, that might be nice for some, but it's just not an option for us...one of these two men is going to be the next president of my favorite country in the world...and I get to play a small role in selecting that man...and so do you.