BY ALEXIA UNDERWOOD //

In the last presidential debate of the 2008 election, both presidential candidates spent much of their time Wednesday night jockeying for the approval of middle-class Americans.

Barack Obama and John McCain’s comments included repeated references to Joe the Plumber, a previously unknown Ohio resident who had spoken with Obama on the campaign trail earlier in the week. The candidates used Joe as a stand-in for working-class American citizens to explain the differences between their economic policies.

They missed the mark with some viewers, like El Cerrito resident Steve Bowles, who was offended by the generalization of character.

“I’m a Joe the Plumber, and I thought that was a silly McCain tactic,” said Bowles.

The last debate’s focus was on domestic policy, and the candidates at times sought to reassure Americans that they understood their woes, financial and otherwise.

Bob Schieffer of CBS News moderated the debate, which took place at Hofstra University in New York.

“[Today was] another very bad day on Wall Street, as both of you know,” Schieffer began. Schieffer then presented a brief outline of both candidates’ proposed economic plans and inquired of McCain why his plan was better than Obama’s.

McCain said the country needed to “put homeowners first” and proposed a government-buy-up of home mortgages to the tune of $300 billion, out of the recently allocated $750 billion to deal with the economic crisis.

In response, Obama sought to convince middle class Americans that he was on their side, proposing focusing on job creation, a middle-class tax cut, and fixing the health-care and education system.

“I think everybody understands at this point that we are experiencing the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression,” said Obama.

McCain followed this with his first reference to Joe the Plumber, a Joe Wurzelbacher from Ohio. He accused his opponent of raising taxes on people like Joe with his tax proposals.

“What you want to do to Joe the Plumber and millions more like him is have their taxes increased and not be able to realize the American dream of owning their own business,” McCain said.

Obama responded by saying that McCain’s goal was to provide tax breaks to “some of the wealthiest corporations in America,” while his proposal was focused on helping the middle class, claiming again that 95 percent of Americans would receive a tax cut.

“What I want to do is to make sure that the plumber, the nurse, the firefighter, the teacher, the young entrepreneur who doesn’t yet have money, I want to give them a tax break now,” Obama said.

Obama also resurrected a metaphor he mentioned during the previous debate, referring to McCain’s across-the-board spending freeze proposal.

“An across-the-board spending freeze is a hatchet, and we do need a scalpel, because there are some programs that don’t work at all. There are some programs that are underfunded. And I want to make sure that we are focused on those programs that work,” Obama said.

McCain responded in kind.

“Senator Obama talks about voting for budgets,” he said. “He voted twice for a budget resolution that increases the taxes on individuals making $42,000 a year. Of course, we can take a hatchet and a scalpel to this budget. It’s completely out of control.”

As the candidates addressed questions about leadership in a campaign that had “turned very nasty,” according to Schieffer, viewers at the Sky Lounge in El Cerrito weighed in on their performances.

Corinne Duwe of El Cerrito was not impressed with McCain.

“McCain is doing all right – I think he has a huge disconnect from what the real issues are,” she said. “Obama’s done really well at not attacking back.”

However, Duwe was concerned with both candidate’s fiscal policy proposals.

“I think our candidates need to be more realistic about where the money is going to come from,” she said. “That’s one of my concerns.”

Bobby Poole, a business-owner from West Virginia who was visiting El Cerrito, agreed that money was an issue.
“The economy’s real bad right now,” he said. “It’s real bad back home.”

He thought Obama and McCain both came off as “strong” in the debate, but he was still more critical of the Republican candidate.

“McCain just turns me off…every time he blinks his eyes I think he’s lying,” said Poole.
“I hope Obama wins because he’s making sense.”

Bowles thought that the verbal attacks were less personal than those of prior debates, due to the closer physical proximity of the candidates. Both candidates and the moderator were seated around a table.

“It’s always easier to demonize your opponent when you’re across the room,” Bowles said.

He did not appreciate McCain’s attempts to characterize middle-class Americans, however.

“I’m just a regular guy. I’m a Joe Sixpack – but I’m not a conservative radical white guy,” said Bowles. “I just hate being pigeon-holed.”

BY N’JERI EATON//

Senators Barack Obama and John McCain met for the final presidential debate to discuss domestic policy last night. However, while the country’s current economic woes were a major topic, an unknown citizen stole the show. Joe “The Plumber” Wurzelbacher became a key figure in the debate. Throughout the 90-minute debate, both candidates repeatedly mentioned Joe who seemed to represent middle class America.

At various times during the debate, the candidates looked into the camera and made direct appeals to Joe, and others like him, as they explained the details of their domestic policies. At one point, McCain even referred to him as “my old buddy Joe.”

During the debate, the candidates elaborated on their domestic policies. Although topics such as health care and the economy were discussed in previous debates, this time they provided specifics. The candidates used Joe as a model to show how their health care plans differ.

McCain said that under Obama’s healthcare plan, Joe the Plumber, as an example of a small business owner, would be fined for not providing his employees with health insurance. “I don’t think that Joe right now wants to pay a fine when he is seeing such difficult times in America’s economy,” said McCain.

Obama responded by speaking directly to Joe. “I’m happy to talk to you, Joe, too, if you’re out there,” he said. “Here’s your fine — zero.” Obama went on to explain that small businesses are exempted from the fine and they will receive a 50 percent credit towards providing their employees with health insurance.

Joe’s name was also invoked when the candidates explained their tax plans. McCain said that he would keep taxes low so that people like Joe can “realize the American dream.” He also went on to say his opponent’s plan would put him in a higher tax bracket, increase his taxes and make him unable to hire workers in this troubled economy.

Obama denied this, saying his plan would actually give small businesses a tax break because “they are the drivers of the economy.”

According to the Commission on Presidential Debates transcript, Joe was mentioned 24 times over the course of the 90-minute debate.

The debate was held at Hofstra University in New York; a state which is considered blue and will likely go for Obama in November. The first debate was held in a Mississippi, which is a battleground state, and the second debate was in the red state of Missouri. There are only three weeks left to the election on November 4.

Below are wordles for each candidate, based on the transcript of the third debate.  Wordles are text clouds that are generated by text.  The more a certain word is used, the greater the size.

John McCain in the Third Debate:

Barack Obama in the Third Debate:

Sens. Barack Obama and John McCain met for their second presidential debate Oct. 7, and for the third time in three weeks the Cerrito Speakeasy Theater in El Cerrito was filled with people eager to see democratic discourse on the big screen. Veteran broadcaster Tom Brokaw moderated the debate and chose the questions for the candidates.

“The audience here in the hall has agreed to be polite and attentive – no cheering or outbursts,” Brokaw said in his opening. “Those of you at home, of course, are not so constrained.”

The viewers at the Speakeasy took those words to heart: They cheered, applauded, booed, hissed and laughed throughout the 90-minute debate. McCain’s entrance brought a series of jeers along with it, while Obama received a hero’s welcome.

The format of this debate was a town hall meeting, which many pundits and political observers said would benefit McCain. But viewer Robert Wilson said the format did not work for the Republican senator on this night.

“His more folksy style would usually do well with a town hall meeting,” Wilson said. “But probably because of the television cameras, I think he began to wander with a lot of his answers, instead of being folksy.”

The debate was held on the campus of Belmont University in Nashville, Tenn. Some of the voters in the debate auditorium stood and asked questions of the candidates, while other questions were selected by Brokaw from thousands of Internet submissions.

The economic crisis was once again a major topic during the debate, and the candidates clashed over the $700 billion bailout, taxes and spending cuts.

“I believe this is a final verdict on the failed economic policies of the last eight years, strongly promoted by President Bush and supported by Senator McCain,” Obama said. “Now, step one was a rescue package that was passed last week…. But that’s only step one. The middle-class need a rescue package.”

“We’ve got to have a package of reforms and it has got to lead to reform prosperity and peace in the world,” McCain said. “And we’ve got to give some trust and confidence back to America. I know how to do that, my friends. And it’s my proposal – it’s not Senator Obama’s proposal, it’s not President Bush’s proposal.”

McCain continued to promote himself as bipartisan, citing legislation he had introduced with Independent Sen. Joe Lieberman (who caucuses with the Democrats) and calling himself a “reformer.”

“I have a clear record of bipartisanship. The situation today cries out for bipartisanship. Senator Obama has never taken on his leaders of his party on a single issue,” McCain said. “I have advocated and taken on the special interests.”

“He attempted to do what everyone wanted him to do: go after Obama,” said viewer Cedric Collins. “That failed, but just by virtue of him trying to do it, it’s going to give him a bump within his own party.”

Obama refuted claims by McCain and his running mate, Gov. Sarah Palin, that he wanted to raise taxes on the middle class, and again stressed the importance of alternative energy sources as he did in the first debate.

“I’ve called for investments in solar, wind, geothermal. Contrary to what Senator McCain keeps on saying, I favor nuclear power as one component of our overall energy mix,” Obama said. “He said a while back that the big problem with energy is that for 30 years, politicians in Washington haven’t done anything. What Senator McCain doesn’t mention is he’s been there 26 of them. And during that time, he voted 23 times against alternative fuels.”

Viewer Margo Noble said Obama was very effective in the town hall format.

“Obama kept his cool and he answered questions with factual detail and relevance,” Noble said. “It was very convincing.”

Brokaw was much more vocal than the moderators from the previous debates, repeatedly scolding the candidates for straying off-topic and giving long-winded answers. He reminded both senators about the rules of the debate several times, and had a couple of wisecracks at the candidates’ expense that drew laughter from the Speakeasy audience.

“All right, gentlemen, I want to just remind you one more time about time. We’re going to have a larger deficit than the federal government does if we don’t get this under control here before too long,” he said.

And then later, when Obama and McCain both talked over Brokaw in their efforts to get time to follow-up on previous statements, the former anchor quipped: “I’m just the hired help here.”

“You’re doing a great job, Tom,” Obama replied.

Noble said she did not care for Brokaw’s responses.

“I would have preferred that he be a little bit more serious instead of being cute in the way he approached it,” she said.

But viewer Alyssa Lindberg said she placed the blame on the candidates instead of the moderator.

“I wasn’t very impressed with the maturity of our presidential candidates,” Lindberg said. “(There was) a lot of pointing fingers, a lot of ‘oh, well if he gets to do this, well then I get to do this.’ It felt more like high school elections than a presidential campaign.”

Despite her disappointment with the candidates, Lindberg said the reaction of the crowd in the Speakeasy was entertaining.

“I liked it. I couldn’t have imagined a better place to see [the debate], just because it was nice to see the public reaction to what [the candidates] were both saying,” she said. “Definitely a very one-sided public reaction, but a public reaction nonetheless.”

Wilson, who also watched the vice-presidential debate at the Speakeasy on Oct. 2, said he enjoyed the environment inside the theater.

“I was hoping to hear the crowd’s reactions to a lot of issues,” Wilson said. “Of course, considering where we live, the crowd’s responses were pretty predictable. So that was enjoyable, but not really informative.”

The final presidential debate will take place on Oct. 15 at Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York. It is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. and will focus on domestic and economic policy.

EL CERRITO – A pensive crowd at the 33 Revolutions Café in El Cerrito watched intently last night as presidential hopefuls John McCain and Barack Obama presented distinct plans for addressing the nation’s economic crisis.

Each candidate declared himself better prepared to help bring the country out of what they called the most serious financial disaster since the Great Depression. Most people watching here, however, felt only one man had their best interests at heart.

“Obama is definitely committed to middle class people,” said Lisa Carey, a Berkeley resident. “McCain didn’t say anything like that.”

Held in front of 80 self-identified undecided voters in Nashville, Tenn., the debate reflected the somber national mood and the increasingly high stakes for the contenders.

McCain introduced a new and specific proposal for addressing the national housing crisis. Under his plan, the treasury secretary would buy up $300 billion worth of bad home loans and refinance mortgages to help struggling Americans keep their homes.

McCain’s proposal seems intended to deflect both the widespread misgivings of his economic qualifications and Obama’s continued efforts to portray him as an extension of the Bush administration.

“It’s my proposal, it’s not Sen. Obama’s proposal, it’s not President Bush’s proposal,” he said. “I know how to get America working again, restore our economy and take care of working Americans.”

Obama focused on the need for more government oversight and industry regulation, priorities he said McCain has spent a career fighting against.

“I believe this is a final verdict on the failed economic policies of the last eight years, strongly promoted by President Bush and supported by Sen. McCain,” he said.

Obama summarized the Republican economic philosophy as “strip away regulations, consumer protections, let the market run wild, and prosperity would rain down on all of us.” But, he said, “It hasn’t worked out that way.”

The Democratic candidate also identified a need for all Americans to make real sacrifices, particular in response to the energy crisis – a sentiment that seemed to resonate with many in the café audience.

“I like that Obama talked about that people have to make personal sacrifices and start to think about how we use power,” said Gina Barsotti, a school teacher from Richmond. “We can’t just be the way that we are, we actually have to conserve.”

Many in attendance credited the town hall format with maintaining a spirit of civility, even as campaign-trail attacks from both sides have become more personal and acerbic in recent days.

“I think having to answer to people in the audience tempered their fighting,” said Lisa Carey of Berkeley.

But while McCain chose not to directly attack Obama’s background or character, there were moments when he uttered rather pointed personal criticisms of his opponent.

Once, while denouncing Obama for a past Senate vote he cast in favor of an energy bill, McCain pointed towards his opponent and referred to him as “that one.” At another point, McCain said that pinning down Obama’s tax proposals is like “nailing Jell-O to the wall.”

Dial groups conducted by MSNBC and other networks during the debate showed that audiences, most notably independent undecided voters, reacted adversely to such comments. Local viewers agreed.

“McCain showed a little more warmth here and there but he also tried a few jokes that I don’t think came off well,” said Phil Mehas of Richmond.

Kerstin Feist of Albany was more blunt.

“I just feel like McCain is just full of hot air,” she said.

By most accounts the debate did not prove to be a game-changer for either candidate, though a series of online instant polls showed Obama to be the winner, and by a much larger margin than after the first debate.

Even a FoxNews.com poll, won by McCain and Palin following the first two debates, showed Obama winning this round, 62-38 percent.

The final presidential debate will be held Wednesday at Hofstra University in Long Island, New York.

“I have a lot of respect for McCain and always have, but I just think his time is gone,” said Mehas. “Our country just can’t afford to have someone of his generation as president. We need someone with fresh ideas  – hopefully Obama can bring that.”