Free & Equal Final Third Party Presidential Debate

Possibly more interesting than viewing the 3-5 Philadephia Eagles and 2-5 New Orleans Saints

Hey everyone!  Here's something for those hardcore political wonks who'd like to watch the very last US Presidential debate of the 2012 election cycle - Libertarian Party candidate Gary Johnson v. Green Party Jill Stein.  (The live stream has now been replaced by and on-demand video recording):

• Welcome To The Free & Equal Final Third Party Presidential Debate

The debate "airs" online At 9:00 PM Eastern.

Possibly more interesting than viewing the 3-5 Philadephia Eagles and 2-5 New Orleans Saints on Monday night football; but we suppose that's all up to you.

Third Party Presidential Debate Tonight - Updated

Game's on at 7:00 (MT) via C-SPAN and the Free and Equal Elections Foundation's online live video feeds

For those WCF political wonks who'd mistakenly thought the 2012 Presidential Debate dog and pony show was over, here's some interesting information from our old favorite, the C-SPAN website:

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Chicago - Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Four Third Party Presidential candidates are participating in a debate in Chicago, organized by the Free and Equal Elections Foundation.

The participants will include Libertarian Party candidate Gary Johnson, Green Party candidate Jill Stein, Constitution Party candidate Virgil Goode, and Justice Party candidate Rocky Anderson. The hour and half event is being moderated by former CNN anchor Larry King and Christina Tobin, founder and chair of the Free and Equal Elections Foundation.

Game's on via C-SPAN at 7:00 (MT). Here's the link:

• C-SPAN live video stream

Alternatively, we provide the Free and Equal Elections Foundation's own live video feed:

• Free and Equal live-stream

We hope all WCF political wonks will avail themselves of the opportunity to hear the views of these non-mainstream, third party candidates.

Update 10/24/12 9:00 a.m.: For those who missed last night's third party debate, here's a taped version via C-SPAN:

Third Presidential Debate - Serious Political/Sports Conflicts - Updated

Just for fun as y'all contemplate this, we invite you to cast your vote in our new online poll

Tough choices this evening for Weber County Forum political wonks who are also rabid San Francisco Giants fans (like us).  Due to the cruel serendipity of MLB playoff scheduling, tonight's one and only Major Sports playoff event which isn't inhibited by a nagging "game clock," (unlike Presidential debates) happens to run headlong into tonight's "Third (count 'em)  Presidential candidate debate."

We have two MAJOR WORLD EVENTS happening at the very same time tonight, dangit.

As soon as it's available, tonight's 2012 Presidential debate III will be coming up live on C-SPAN (Debate starts at 9 pm ET sharp): 

• C-SPAN Live streaming Video  (Recorded 10/23/12)

Sorry, folks; you'll have to watch the NLCS on your mundane, old-fashioned TeeVee.

So what about it folks?  1) Will you be watching the S.F Giants try to clinch the MLB National League 2012 title championship game tonight; or 2) will you glued into a relatively-important political debate where you'll finally be deciding which presidential candidate is the "lesser evil"?

Just for fun as y'all contemplate this, here's our new online poll:

Free Web poll for your Web site - freepolls.com

The floor's open for whatever's on your minds, O Gentle Ones.

10/23/12 9:00 a.m.:  We've rounded up a few notable post-debate stories and other items. Not everyone believes Obama was last night's victor:

• CNN Poll: Nearly half of debate watchers say Obama won showdown - CNN
• Obama Reelection Odds Increase In Prediction Markets Following Foreign Policy Debate - HuffPo
• "Horses and bayonets" becomes latest debate catchphrase - Chicago Trib
• Angry Obama Loses to Unflappable Romney - Daily Beast
• Entire Nation Now Undecided After 4 Debates - The Onion

Added Bonus: Last night's WCF polling results:

Comments, anyone?

Election 2012: Expanding the Debate with Third-Party Candidates

We're not laboring under any illusion that any of these third-party "hopefuls" have a "snowball's chance in hell" of winding up in the White House, but the word's around town that one or more of them could conceivably play a "spoiler role"

In the aftermath of Tuesday's Presidential debate #2, we had a short conversation with one of our readers who offered a suggestion which we thought to be a great idea.  Inasmuch as most ballot-qualified U.S. Presidential candidates have been excluded from the national debate discussion by our so-called "2-party system," "why not shine the spotlight on the several non-major party candidates?" our alert and concerned reader asked.

That's right folks. We'll lay odds that there are some of these folks (all of whom are qualified to appear on Utah ballots) are candidates you may have never even heard of:

U.S. President Federal - 4 year term

Candidate	Website/Contact Info	Campaign Finance Disclosures	Party
Virgil Goode & Jim Clymer	Virgil Goode Campaign Website	Virgil Goode 2012	Constitution
Barrack Obama & Joe Biden	Barrack Obama Campaign Website	Barrack Obama 2012	Democratic
Jill Stein, & Cheri Honkala	Jill Stein Campaign Website	Jill Stein 2012	Green
Rocky Anderson & Luis Rodriguez	Rocky Anderson Campaign Website	Rocky Anderson 2012	Justice
Gary Johnson & James Gray	Gary Johnson Campaign Website	Gary Johnson 2012	Libertarian
Mitt Romney & Paul Ryan	Mitt Romney Campaign Website	Mitt Romney 2012	Republican

In that connection therefore, and taking advantage of the brief interlude before next Tuesday's Third Presidential debate, we'll provide a couple of links which our WCF reader provided us, just to make sure we've left no stones unturned as we ramp up to the November 6, 2012 General Election.

For starters, here's a handy link, wherein the Democracy Now website "re-air[s] parts of [Tuesday] night’s presidential debate, pausing the videotape to give third-party candidates [Jill Stein of the Green Party, Constitution Party nominee Virgil Goode, and Justice Party candidate Rocky Anderson] a chance to respond to the same questions put to the major-party candidates":

• Exclusive: Expanding the Debate with Third-Party Candidates Jill Stein, Virgil Goode, Rocky Anderson

And there's another similar online event happening this afternoon, featuring Green Party candidate Green and Libertarian Party candidate Gary Johnson. Perhaps a few of our foamy-mouthed WCF political wonks will want to check it out:

• Join us for the Google+ presidential debates this week!

And no, folks.  We're not laboring under any illusion that any of these third-party "hopefuls" have a "snowball's chance in hell" of winding up in the White House; but the word's around town that one or more of them could conceivably play a "spoiler role".

 Have at it, O Gentle Ones.

And whatever you do, don't neglect to throw in your own 2¢.

Obama/Romney Encore: 2012 US Presidential Debate No. 2 - Updated

Click our special C-SPAN link, for those who'd prefer to "tune in" and view via the miracle of electrons bouncing back and forth through a "series of internet tubes"

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Joy of joys... President Obama and Mitt Romney once again get back on the stage tonight at Hofstra University for their second general election debate.  The stakes are high for both candidates tonight, folks, as Obama seeks to recover the political ground he lost thirteen days ago, (when he basically snoozed through the last unfortunate encounter.)  Romney now has his own new polling turf to to protect, of course; so he can't afford to sit on his... laurels.

Tonight's debate will be broadcast on all the major TV networks, of course.  But for those who'd prefer to "tune in" and view via the miracle of electrons bouncing back and forth through a "series of internet tubes," here's a link to our hands down choice for Presidential debate viewing... the 99.9% talking head/political pundit-free C-SPAN Network:

• C-SPAN debate video (Recorded 10/16/12)

The debate starts at 7 p.m. Mountain Time, by the way, so you have plenty of time to get over to your local grocery stores to stock up on Orville Redenbachers.

And just so's you won't be stuck twiddling you thumbs between now and the time debate moderator Candy Crowley brings the gavel down, here are a few carefully selected pre-debate stories to chew on in the meantime:

• What to watch for in the second presidential debate WaPo
• 2012 Presidential Debate: What To Watch For At Hofstra - HuffPo
• 5 things to watch at the debate - Politico
• Leaked Debate Agreement Shows Both Obama and Romney are Sniveling Cowards - Gawker 

Your ever-savvy comments are invited, of course, before, during and after tonight's debate.

Update 10/17/12 8:00 a.m.: A few post debate items for our readers' consideration:

• Obama Delivers - HuffPo
• With stakes high, Obama hits back at Romney in a fiery second debate - WaPo
• For the President, Punch, Punch, Another Punch - NYTimes
• Video - POLITICO Playback: 10/17/12 - Politico
• October 17, 2012 - Nate Silver - Daily Show

Comments, anyone?

Big Vice-presidential Debate Tonight: Joe Biden v. Paul Ryan - Updated

Demo Joe Biden enters the ring tonight for a live debate against GOP V.P. candidate Paul Ryan, winner of the WCF Eddie Muster lookalike contest

Here's what we've all been waiting for, O politically wonkish WCF Readers, as street-hardened Demo incumbent U.S. Vice President Joe Biden enters the TeeVee ring tonight for a live bare-knuckle debate against GOP V.P. candidate Paul Ryan, incidentally the proud winner of the WCF Eddie Muster lookalike contest, btw.

Here's the link to tonght's C-SPAN streaming video, which kicks off the live debate promptly at 7 p.m., Mountain Time:

• C-SPAN live-streaming debate video

(Update: We've now replaced the live stream link with a recorded version.)

Here are a few pre-debate web stories which we rounded up this afternoon whilst Googling, just to whet your political appetites:

• 5 things to watch in VP debate - Politico
• Joe Biden Debate: Expect 'Pitbull' Focused On Sharp Policy Contrasts, Say Insiders - HuffPo
• Can Joe Biden Save Barack Obama? - Slate

But in the meantime til the moderator's gavel goes down, what the heck?  Why not click the above C-SPAN link and tune into C-SPAN right now?

Better yet, lodge your comments as tonight's V.P. debate unfolds.

And who would like to speculate on tonight's prospectiv V.P. debate "winner," O Gentle Ones?

Update 10/12/12 8:00 a.m.: We've now rounded up a few interesting post-debate writeups:

• Winners and losers in the vice presidential debate - WaPo
• Joe Biden’s secret weapon: laughter - Salon
• Noonan: Confusing Strength With Aggression - Wall Street Journal
• Joltin' Joe Biden wins the bout - Politico
• Biden Gave Democrats The Show They Wanted—and Needed - New Republic
• Biden rattles Ryan - WaPo
• Laughing Man and Choir Boy - HuffPo
• Video: Media harps on Biden's demeanor - Politico
• The Vice Presidential Debate: Joe Biden Was Right to Laugh -Rolling Stone

Post-debate comments, anyone?

Cal Grondahl has a good one too, LOL...

Standard-Examiner/Cal Grondahl 10/12/12

Big Debate Tonight - 2012 US Presidential Debate No. 1 - Updated

Added Bonus: A few debate-topical  articles and stories which we've gathered up over the past few days

Click to Enlarge

There's a big (high stakes) duke-out happening tonight, concerning the 2012 US presidential election, or so we've heard from who else? Our beloved Standard-Examiner, that's who:

• First debate could be high-risk theater

For those who might be caught up in a work cubicle tonight, or hopelessly stranded up on an Ogden East Bench cliff with only an Android or iPhone device to feed your insatiable political appetites, here's a link to a streaming feed of tonight's debate, which kicks off promptly at 7 p.m., Mountain Time:

• C-SPAN live-streaming debate video (Recorded 1/3/12)
  

(You can tune in now for pre-debate coverage, btw.) And just so's we can give ya'll a little something to chew on, prior to tonight's debate, here are some links to a few debate-topical  articles and stories which we've gathered up over the past few days:

• Debate questions for the candidates
• What Romney and Obama’s Body Language Says to Voters
• The Zinger candidacy — all sugary platitudes, no protein

And for those of you wondering why we put up a debate link to the relatively staid C-SPAN website, amidst the plethora of other "pundit-abundant" sites which will be live-streaming tonight's debate, here's why, if you get our meaning (which we think you do):

Major Network Debate Coverage Preview

The great thing about C-SPAN? It's relatively moron/pundit-free!

Update 10/4/12 8:06 a.m.: The New York Times carries this Michael D. Shear writeup, which quite accurately frames the post-debate story, wethinks:

• Romney Seen as Winner; Obama Faulted for Flat Debate

Gotta say we chuckled over this Bill Maher quote:

 “I can’t believe I’m saying this, but Obama looks like he DOES need a teleprompter.” 

 A coupla "good ones" from Salon.com:

•  Just how bad is the damage?
•  Debate fact check

The floor's open for your own post-debate observations, zingers and wisecracks, O Gentle Ones.