Victory Claimed By Both Sides

The post-debate statements from the two campaigns are (unsurprisingly) both triumphant.

Obama-Biden Campaign Manager David Plouffe:

Barack Obama won a resounding victory in John McCain's favorite debate format because he made the case for change that will rebuild the middle class. The American people asked tough questions tonight, and only Barack Obama was is in touch with their struggles and offered clear and passionate answers about creating jobs, reducing health care costs, cutting taxes for 95% of working families, and responsibly ending the war in Iraq. John McCain was all over the map on the issues, and he is so angry about the state of his campaign that he referred to Barack Obama as 'that one' -- last time he couldn't look at Senator Obama, this time he couldn't say his name. The McCain campaign said, 'if we keep talking about the economy, we're going to lose,' and John McCain definitely lost tonight.

McCain Communications Director Jill Hazelbaker:

Tonight, John McCain won the debate. He was the only man who demonstrated he had the independence and strength to take on everything that's broken in Washington and on Wall Street. John McCain had a clear plan for improving the lives of Americans -- keeping them in their homes through his American Homeownership Resurgence Plan. From Barack Obama, we heard half-truths and contradictions between what he says and what he has done. He said he supported offshore drilling but has opposed it for months. He talked about tax cuts but he voted for higher taxes 94 times and promises increased taxes on small businesses. He talked about reducing the size of government but has proposed hundreds of billions of dollars in new government spending. Tonight, Barack Obama had an opportunity to level with the American people, but instead all we heard was more of the same.

-- Evie Stone

10:54 PM ET | 10- 7-2008 | permalink

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