One year ago today:

[Ignacio Upton]

The first debate between Kerry and Bush took place, in which Bush got his ass handed to him.



Kerry's performance in the debate put him back in contention, because of his lousy August and September.

http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/10/01/debate.poll/

The blogosphere also demonstrated its weight with a massive email campaign directed at pundits. Liberal blogs also won the day in terms of voting in online polls (but really when only 21%/180662 votes of people in an online CNN poll taken after the debate showed Bush winning versus Kerry 72%/ 632093 votes, the Freepers can't possibly say the voting was rigged.)

Also, this website was created within hours after Bush bombed:

http://youforgotpoland.com/


Overall, despite the fact that Bush went on to win the popular vote (Ohio is still a gray area as far as I'm concerned.) the debate made the election a horse race again, and it showed the might of the Blogs in stopping the Right Wing Noise Machine, which in 2000 spun the debates in favor of Bush even though polls of people who saw the debates showed that Gore won.

[deadparrot]

1. *sob* What a great memory.

I was with my family. We just sat there and laughed and laughed.

[SmokingJacket]

2. Aw, geez, that was quite a day.

I thought Bush was done! I thought he was gonna have to go pack his bags and go home... :cry:

[Parche]

3. 1 year ago

Then remember what happened after that....the Bush admin
just suddenly received an Osama tape, right out of the blue...
imagine that.....reminds you of the Anthrax scare in 2001......

THEY ARE PURE EVIL

[Ignacio Upton]

4. I guess that was their "October Surprise"

we were thinking that Osama would trun up in the flesh (and I still think he will appear if Bush's numbers go below 35%)

[Nikki Stone 1]

5. Yes. Amazing how Binladin conveniently shows up when Junior needs him

Hmmm

[getmeouttahere]

7. Or another second-in-command Al Qaeda commander!

[orpupilofnature57]

6. What an insult to the intellect, sense of articulation, and comprehensive

fact.

[GreenPartyVoter]

8. Yeah.. those were hopeful days.

[DFWdem]

9. Please give Bush a break

After all, debating is hard work. I mean, it's hard, hard work!

[deadparrot]

10. And fer God's sake, don't forget Poland! nt

[sandnsea]

11. He DID NOT have a lousy August

And if Democrats had paid attention to the facts instead of the media spin, the debates would have been the nails in his coffin.

http://pollingreport2.com/wh2004a.htm

August 2004 - The Way It WAS

"From the moment John Kerry became the clear winner of the Democratic primary, he led in the polls. He led in the polls in the early spring, through the selection of John Edwards as Vice President, through the convention, and through most of the month of August. Despite the media’s incessant claim that there was no convention bounce, Kerry was ahead in the polls in August from 1 to 8 points, across the board. Don’t believe me? It’s on the internets, take a look. Be sure and take a look at the Bush bounce as well, outside of the Time/Newsweek poll, Bush had the same 1 to 8 point lead after the RNC convention.

So what happened to that consistent lead? With the signing of Form 180 and the release of Kerry’s Navy records, many are giving credit to the lies and smears of the Swift Boat Vets. Despite the fact that John O’Neill hasn’t stopped making these outlandish statements since 1971, somehow people think that the release of the exact same Navy records that Kerry had on his web site would have appeased these weasels. Just today, the Boston Globe (Kerry's Vietnam, see Ron's post above) has repeated the canard that “Kerry’s failure to respond” damaged the campaign.

But is Kerry’s “failure to respond” any more accurate than the lack of a convention bounce? I don’t see it."

Timeline, Links, More
http://www.lightupthedarkness.org/blog/?view=plink&id=1055

[Sunkiss BlueStar]

12. Good Times

I was also with my family we were chillin and eating :popcorn: . Kerry did so good. Then after the debates we watched some Jon Stew , laughed a little more and had a good nights sleep.

[LittleClarkie]

13. I think I still have it taped. Maybe I'll have to go watch tonight

I'm finding the one year anniversary of the election hard to take. I remember what I was doing this time last year, and I can't believe it's been that long. On my birthday, I worked the election. About now I started to phone bank in earnest.

I wonder if my next election will be like that was. I'd never worked a campaign like that before. So much hope, so much excitement, then somebody ripped out my heart and put it back in sideways.

Still, I could have done more. I went down to HQ in my spare time. I could have made more of a commitment, I think. Even so, we seemed so much more motivated than they.

It feels like being the kid on the school yard again, with the popular rich kids making fun of you. They'll always have more money.

Why do so many people in this country have to be so... I almost put dumb... but I'll go with oblivious. Wake the FUCK UP people.

My next campaign will be Bryan Kennedy. I don't think my hopes will be as high with him, but we will do our best to get rid of Sensenbrenner the baby for you guys. Maybe his fortunes will go down with DeLay's. Even now, I see one of our Congressmen, Ryan, is on DeLay's list of people who got money from his PAC. Hopefully it will all pay dividends.

Ugh, I'm rambling again. Sorry.