A real disconnect between pundit and voters on last night's debate.

[askew]

Same as 2007-08 where the media gave every debate win to Hillary, while the voters were more impressed with Obama. Last night's debate was declared a clear win for Hillary by the fawning media, whereas twitter and Facebook show Sanders and O'Malley getting the best responses. Lots of comments about O'Malley asking where he's been, how can I learn more, etc.

I watched the debate late last night after peeking at media reports on the debate and expected it to be a disaster for O'Malley. I was so surprised after watching the debate how well O'Malley did. He had the best closing statement by far. He was the only candidate to talk in a optimistic way about this country which is so important for Democrats. We don't work well with doom-n-gloom. He spoke with compassion and reason on immigration and health care for immigrants. He showed that he can lead with gun control and taking on Wall Street.

Hillary was vague and non-committal in the debate. Sanders was Sanders. No surprises. Webb was crazy and I just felt bad for Chafee.

I did notice Anderson Cooper cutting O'Malley off repeatedly throughout the debate and stepping on his applause lines. He didn't do that for Sanders or Hillary.

I think O'Malley is going to pick up some momentum from last night's debate and hopefully some $$.

Am I crazy or do other O'Malley supporters see the same thing?

[HooptieWagon]

1. Makes you wonder why they bothered with polls and focus groups.

It is obvious they were going to declare Clinton the winner regardless. Fortunately their bias was on full display. LOL, that didn't go as planned.

Edit: oops, didn't realize this was O Malley group. Sanders supporters here, but I have to say O'Malley handled himself well in the time he was given.

[askew]

2. No problem.

I am an O'Malley supporter but think Sanders handled himself well.

And I agree that the pundits had already written the Hillary wins articles before the debate started. There's been zero coverage on her evading answers on social security and DREAM Act. They've also ignored all the focus groups who have given Sanders the win and the twitter/Facebook responses showing Sanders and O'Malley were most impressive.

[global1]

5. I'll Be Really Pissed If The "Presumptive Nominees" For Both Parties Wind Up Facing Off In Nov 2016.

I'm tired of being manipulated by the MSM and the pundits and the 1%ers. But if it turns out that we'll have a Bush and Clinton running against each other - I'll know the game is rigged.

The fact that they have put a non-discuss dictum out for Bernie - says to me that he really threatens their existence and so they decided that an 'out of sight - out of mind' strategy for Bernie was the strategy they'd employ.

Well last night Bernie really accomplished what he needed to and that was to get his message out to the wider audience of the American People. By the post-debate internet polls and focus groups it appears that Bernie accomplished that.

They won't be able to ignore Bernie going forward - but I'm seeing by the coverage post-debate - that any chance they get to knock him down or give him a zinger - they'll use it.

O'Malley came off really well last night and really impressed me. Unfortunately - Cooper and CNN classified O'Malley as a second tiered candidate and didn't give him the opportunity to shine or in many cases finish his thoughts. Cooper stepped on O'Malley's crowd reactions and I thought it was just rude of him to do that.

As a contrast - anytime Hillary had a crowd reaction - Cooper let it play out. That's just unfair and one-sided and part of the manipulation that the MSM wants to use on us.

[JustAnotherGen]

6. See- I thought the debate overall was crappy

I'm a firm firm O'Malley supporter.

However, Anderson Cooper placed himself in a pugnacious role - and kind of attacked all of the candidates.

Regardless - I'm glad Sanders spoke up on the email in Clinton's defense.

I don't care about the emails or Benghazi and I'm sick and tired of reading and hearing about it. After the hearings she attends we as Democratic Party members need to push and point blank state -

Stop using Clinton as a tool to bludgeon Obama.

What we as a party permit - we promote. So let's not keep these doors opened in a G.E.

[hedda_foil]

8. Frank Luntz did a focus group of undecided Dems on Faux after the debate. Guess what.

Almost everyone ended up strongly for Bernie. Take from this what you will, but the results were virtually identical to CNN's focus group.

[HooptieWagon]

9. Actually, they were mostly Clinton supporters!

He asked them who supported Clinton before the debate, about 3/4 raised their hands.
The group was from Florida...a swing state. I saw several blacks and Hispanics in the group, and m/f looked about 50/50. Pretty diverse, although youth were under-represented. I'd guess the 75% for Hillary prior to the debate probably is reasonable representation of her support here. Bernie is fairly unknown to public, and has made no stops here. So I'd say the focus group was a pretty good representation of Dem Florida voters. Post debate, a sizeable majority thought Bernie won. That is encouraging...with a bit more publicity and a few campaign stops he could be a greater threat in Fla than I had figured.

[hedda_foil]

10. Thanks I missed that..

[Schema Thing]

3. I'm a Sanders supporter, but..

I saw the same things.

If O'Malley doesn't get a bump, it will be the medias fault for ignoring him in post debate punditry.
I think he will though, at least a little - he did great.

His closing argument was masterful - by far the best.

[JustAnotherGen]

7. I thought O'Malley got short changed

Cooper tended to cut him off a bit too quickly.

My hope is that Webb and Chaffee are gone by November.

That's when he will be set apart from the two Bickersons.

[elleng]

4. Interesting point of view, askew!

Agree, the fawning media lost it and thinks it 'won.'

(Sent some $$ too.)

[FSogol]

11. I thought Anderson was mostly fair. O'Malley had to work for his spots and did well.

Anderson's prompting O'Malley to critisize HRC for being quick to military action (if I am remembering that right) was pretty bogus.

Here's what the College of William and Mary debate team thought:

Conclusion: Hands raised for O'Malley, 3, 6, 9, 13, it was unanimous, Martin O'Malley. "He stuck to the issues the most", the group said, "and he probably changed the most minds." " I don't think anyone who was not going to vote for Hillary before is voting for Hillary now. I think the same thing happened for Bernie. I think the only person who made any relative gains was Martin O'Malley."

http://www.npr.org/2015/10/14/448697137/how-did-the-democrats-do-in-their-first-debate-college-debaters-weigh-in

I agree with them. O'Malley did great. His closing statement was awesome and the crowd really responded.

[MH1]

12. Thanks for posting that.

I've been pretty depressed because what I've seen today is all Hillary and Sanders, with not much credit to O'Malley - but I thought O'Malley presented himself the best of all of them, by far. I think the spin lines were already written before the debate and the pundits just tweaked them to fit afterward. Aargh.

Also I keep hearing people say how well Hillary did. To me those people have low expectations. While far better than any of the repukes, she just grates on me and I can't see how anyone thought she came across better than O'Malley.

Oh well. I'm pretty much resigned to vote for whoever is on the D line, regardless who it is. Because there's no doubt the republican candidate will be a cretin. I just wish we could hear more of what O'Malley says because he is INTELLIGENT and solution oriented.

[FSogol]

13. IMO, there really wasn't a winner at the first debate. The top 3 did good.

The goal isn't to win the 1st debate, it is to have a good showing, catch some attention and more forward. O'Malley accomplished that and more. Next debate is in less than a month in Iowa. Advantage? O'Malley has a really strong grassroots campaign going there. Should be good.