XPost: alt.politics.usa, alt.tv.oreilly-factor, rec.arts.tv
XPost: alt.politics.elections

"The answer is ... no. The American people will not change their votes
based upon anything Mike Pence and Tim Kaine might say this evening.
The two presidential candidates are so much larger than life that it
all depends on them, not their seconds. In my lifetime, only Sarah
Palin brought enough charisma to benefit her ticket. Other than that,
the VP candidates have been pretty much used as surrogates. Does anyone remember what Joe Biden said to Paul Ryan or vice versa four years ago?
So tonight's debate will be interesting because of the joust, but it
will not influence the vote. So all eyes will turn to Sunday night,
round two between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. Polling this week
is not good news for the Trump campaign. Many Americans apparently
believe that Hillary Clinton won the first debate and she has gained in
most of the polling. Also, Donald Trump remains on defense. While the
Miss Universe thing is going away, the tax deal is big. As we reported
last night, corporations take big losses all the time and that's what
Mr. Trump did. The fact that he turned his companies around to make big
profits is to his credit. But we all know that the two debate
moderators - Martha Raddatz and Anderson Cooper - as well as Hillary
Clinton herself, will try to paint Trump as a greed head who doesn't
care about his country. That presents an interesting challenge to the candidate. Trump must calmly state his case, that his economic vision
on taxes and everything else will benefit the country. If Donald Trump
goes on the defensive and lashes out in any way at all, he will lose
the second debate. And if that happens, well I think we all know how
the November vote will turn out. But Mr. Trump is a talented
communicator, so it would be foolish for anyone to count him out at
this point. But he needs a big win on Sunday, not just holding his own.
If that happens, the polls will turn around because Hillary Clinton
still has not defined herself to independent American voters."

The Factor invited reaction from Brit Hume. "The vice presidential
debate could matter," he theorized, "because remember how many vice
presidents have gone on to become president. So you may be getting an
early audition for someone who may someday run for the Oval Office
itself. And there is the possibility that one of these vice
presidential candidates could open up a line of attack that will prove
useful going forward. But beyond that, there has never been a case that
I can think of that a vice presidential debate mattered in the
election." The Factor regrettably added, "Almost 50% of the American
population doesn't know who Tim Kaine and Mike Pence are."

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