You really gotta wonder if 10 hours is enough time to mentally prepare yourself for a debate.

[Bicoastal]

McCain has been under a steady stream of criticism over the last few days. He's also been crisscrossing the country, and most of his travel plans have apparently been made at the last minute. You gotta imagine he isn't sleeping well, and hasn't really had a moment to relax.

Oh yeah, and he's also 72 years old and has a history of health problems...

Then there's Obama, who has never even considered not debating. He's not only fully prepped, he's looking and acting confident and unflappable as always--he even visited the gym today!

I don't expect McCain to do that well tonight, but I will give him points if he manages to finish without doing something extremely erratic and ill-advised, due to fatigue, lack of sleep, et al.

[Youphemism]

1. Don't forget jet lag. He flew the day of the debate. /nt

[madwivoter]

2. Totally

I can't imagine trying to prep for a debate (no less 3) of this magnitude.

Ha ha, I remember when I had debate tournaments back in high school...:scared: - I NEVER felt ready.

[tridim]

3. 2 hours of panic, 8 hours of narcotic induced sleep, and 2 hours of prep...

He's fucked IMO. I can't wait for tonight. :)

[REACTIVATED IN CT]

10. And it doesn't start until 9 EST

I'm only 61 and I can barely stay awake after 9 pm on a work day

[deadparrot]

4. I think the format of the debate will really help Obama.

McCain's used to giving snarky soundbites. The propect of his actually having to engage in substantive conversation on an issue isn't particularly troubling to me.

[marshall]

5. Lowered expectation is a trap

Same as W--the constant scuttlebutt will be that he doesn't know his ass from a hole in the ground. Then when he performs reasonably well in the debate by using multi-syllabic words and a few complex sentence structures he will be proclaimed a genius.

[blueknight]

7. i really believe

he knew all along he was going to be there.he is just setting everyone up for his predictably bad performance. that way, if he says anything good at all, he will look like he done well.

[Buck Rabbit]

6. Debate is his best format.

He has a limited number of sound bite responses he will use to answer all questions. He will be bold and assured unlike the problems he has trying to read a prepared script. I would be shocked if any question came up he didn't have a canned response ready for.

I expect him to do well tonight. I won't watch it live, but I'll have it dvr'd if I read about anything interesting happening.

[SKKY]

8. How could he prepare for a summit of any consequence...

...with important world leaders if he can't even prepare for a presidential debate???? I think an important measure of how each of these men with act as president is how well they run their campaigns. Obama is doing better in that regard by orders of magnitude. NO SYMPATHY FROM ME!!!!

[Lucky 13]

9. I say we spot McCain 3 time-outs for use during the debates...

...gives him a chance to get some gatoraid, suck on an oxygen mask, powernap, whatever....

...otherwise, I'm not sure he's gonna make it.

[jenmito]

11. MSNBC reported that he practiced for the debate for 3 hours last night which proves

again he's a LIAR!