Pretty clearly, the Obamacon phenomenon is on the whole not really an endorsement of Obama or anything he proposes to do, which is why most of the endorsements coming from the right cannot withstand much scrutiny.  That’s the whole point: the Republican ticket is so unappealing to these people that they will vote for its defeat in full knowledge that there is little or nothing to say on behalf of the man they’re electing.  

[T]hings like pesonality and leadership style are relevant to voting decisions (and are tough to capture in suveys). A candidate’s policy positions are not the only thing that matter. The way in which the candidate will try to implement these policies matters too. I wouldn’t vote for a candidate who shared my precise policy positions but decided to implement them by constitutionally questionable methods, for example. Process matters just as much as substance.

By the spring, the McCain campaign had reportedly sent scouts to Alaska to start vetting Palin as a possible running mate. A week or so before McCain named her, however, sources close to the campaign say, McCain was intent on naming his fellow-senator Joe Lieberman, an independent, who left the Democratic Party in 2006. David Keene, the chairman of the American Conservative Union, who is close to a number of McCain’s top aides, told me that “McCain and Lindsey Graham”—the South Carolina senator, who has been McCain’s closest campaign companion—“really wanted Joe.” But Keene believed that “McCain was scared off” in the final days, after warnings from his advisers that choosing Lieberman would ignite a contentious floor fight at the Convention, as social conservatives revolted against Lieberman for being, among other things, pro-choice. “They took it away from him,” a longtime friend of McCain—who asked not to be identified, since the campaign has declined to discuss its selection process—said of the advisers. “He was furious. He was pissed. It wasn’t what he wanted.” Another friend disputed this, characterizing McCain’s mood as one of “understanding resignation.” With just days to go before the Convention, the choices were slim. Karl Rove favored McCain’s former rival Mitt Romney, but enough animus lingered from the primaries that McCain rejected the pairing. “I told Romney not to wait by the phone, because ‘he doesn’t like you,’ ” Keene, who favored the choice, said. “With John McCain, all politics is personal.” Other possible choices—such as former Representative Rob Portman, of Ohio, or Governor Tim Pawlenty, of Minnesota—seemed too conventional. They did not transmit McCain’s core message that he was a “maverick.” Finally, McCain’s top aides, including Steve Schmidt and Rick Davis, converged on Palin. Ed Rogers, the chairman of B.G.R., a well-connected, largely Republican lobbying firm, said, “Her criteria kept popping out. She was a governor—that’s good. The shorter the Washington résumé the better. A female is better still. And then there was her story.” He admitted, “There was concern that she was a novice.” In addition to Schmidt and Davis, Charles R. Black, Jr., the lobbyist and political operative who is McCain’s chief campaign adviser, reportedly favored Palin. Keene said, “I’m told that Charlie Black told McCain, ‘If you pick anyone else, you’re going to lose. But if you pick Palin you may win.’ ” (Black did not return calls for comment.) Meanwhile, McCain’s longtime friend said, “Kristol was out there shaking the pom-poms.”

1. John McCain looks much worse in person than he does on analog television, and I was wondering if that would show up if 2008 would lead to an HD/analog split in reaction to the debate that 1960 had for radio/television.  I was pleasantly surprised to see that the answer was no.  [Pleasantly?--ed.  Yes, this is a really stupid reason to prefer one candidate over the other.]  McCain looked better than expected, while Obama looked more sallow.  Curiously, the more whiskey I drank, the better both of them looked.  UPDATE:  Wow, Ann Althouse and I agree!
2. Ah, the perceived slights.  Josh Marshall highlights McCain's unwillingness to make eye contact with Obama.  I would say that McCain evinced some disregard for Obama -- but I'm not buying the "low-ranking monkey" hypothesis (seriously, I can't believe Josh posted this).  McCain was not afraid of Obama -- he just doesn't like him.
3. Meanwhile, Amy Holmes at NRO is miffed that Obama kept calling John McCain "John" rather than Senator McCain.  Holmes suggests that Obama picked this up from Joe Biden.  I've found, in talking with Obama staffers, that this is just how that campaign talks.  They all call Obama "Barack".  The fuddy-duddy in me finds this absurd -- if you're worried about a stature/experience gap with your opponent, the last thing you do is call everyone by their first name.  But it's not something directed at McCain specifically.
4. The most grating moment came when John McCain called himself a maverick.  As Megan McArdle observes, "no one should ever, ever refer to themselves as a maverick unless they are currently James Garner." 
5. Amid all the debate over who won the debate, the answer seems clear to me -- the candidate who left themselves more vulnerable to the cold-open Saturday Night Live skit tonight loses.  I think McCain's performance is more ripe for satire -- but we'll know in about 14 hours.   

Perhaps, however, rather than trying to postpone the debate, McCain is instead seeking to increase its importance. Surely the drama of the past 30 hours has made it an even more captivating event, probably leading to increased viewership. Moreover, with the subject matter likely to be expanded to include the economy, and the candidates having had less time to prepare, the entire exercise becomes less predictable, with gaffes more likely to occur, but also the potential for "clutch" performances.

Senator McCain has spent the morning talking to members of the Administration, members of the Senate, and members of the House. He is optimistic that there has been significant progress toward a bipartisan agreement now that there is a framework for all parties to be represented in negotiations, including Representative Blunt as a designated negotiator for House Republicans.  The McCain campaign is resuming all activities and the Senator will travel to the debate this afternoon.  Following the debate, he will return to Washington to ensure that all voices and interests are represented in the final agreement, especially those of taxpayers and homeowners.

• They were both pilots who were shot down in wartime;
• They both had decades of Washington experience;
• They are more interested in foreign policy than domestic policy;
• They both are lousy public speakers
• They both lost a close primary to a more ideological two-term president eight years before they became the GOP nominee;
• They both made dubious selections for their VP candidate; 

• "Professional athletes and executives have given $445,334 to the two nominees -- 55.8 percent to McCain and 44.2 percent to Obama, according to ESPN analysis of figures from the Center for Responsive Politics, a nonpartisan research group."
• "The difference this election is that pro sports donors are more divided. In the past two presidential elections, the Democratic nominee has struggled to muster at most 16 percent of pro sports donations."
• "Professional sports figures have given twice as much money to all presidential candidates combined during this election than they have to candidates in each of the past two races. And almost two months of fundraising remain for the two nominees."
• "McCain has lots of friends in the dugout, but his biggest fans are in football. Six of McCain's top 10 pro sports donors are with NFL teams, led by the San Diego Chargers, Dallas Cowboys and Houston Texans."
• "NBA staff topped Obama's list of pro sports donors at $24,360."
• "[Rudy Giuliani] cashed in a total of $210,900 from pro sports donors, including $86,300 from NASCAR employees and drivers and $17,000 from his hometown New York Yankees."