The AJC, Georgia's largest daily, convened a group of undecided voters to watch last night's debate.
The results aren't good for McCain.
For those of you who've never lived in Georgia, you need to understand that we're a state that's significantly divided geographically. The cities have pulled in residents from across the nation but the small towns are very much Old South. Opinions are typically split just as you'd imagine. Inside the Perimeter, we're blue. Outside the Perimeter, the state is a deep, dark red.
With that in mind, I was amazed to read some of these comments from outside the Perimeter in the morning paper ...
Seth Rhine
Age: 32
Lives in: Monroe
Occupation: Teacher of Advanced Placement Economics and baseball coach in Gwinnett County.
"Overall, Barack seemed much more comfortable in this format than I expected. McCain apparently has lots of friends in this group (he keeps calling them my friends).
"I think McCain is really going to have a tough time winning the election or any debate with Barack. I think Barack is in a different league as it pertains to debates and public settings.
Seth seems to like Barack.
Mandy Lewis
Age: 30
Lives in: Lawrenceville
Occupation: Technical support supervisor for Neurostar Solutions
Obama stole the show for me tonight! He came across as very presidential, well thought-out, and prepared. Not just for the debate but prepared for our country! I was annoyed with McCain’s condescending tone of voice when it come to foreign policy
Sounds like Mandy likes Barack, too.
But she says she's still undecided:
[I'm] excited about Obama tonight, but all it will take is a few minutes of Palin and I am back on the fence.
I'm hoping one of her friends will give her a few minutes of Palin's best hits today to help her off the fence.
Nikki Shirah
Age: 51
Lives in: Covington
Occupation: School bus driver
I am leaning toward Obama and I think he has it sewn up. ... I don’t think people are willing to vote for four more years under the Republicans. Obama sounded very knowledgeable and did not stoop to McCain’s attacks on him.
School bus drivers for Obama!!
But what about our exurban cops? Any hope there?
Terrance Smith
Age: 45
Lives in: Ellenwood
Occupation: Law enforcement
I saw a debate between a negotiator (Obama) and a warrior (McCain). Who would you choose? I say it depends on the situation that is being faced.
snip
I look at McCain as wanting to bring political bipartisanship into play, something I would embrace. I am 90 percent sure I will be casting a McCain vote in the advance voting week.
OK. Everybody in the electorate who wants to vote for a Warrior line up behind Terrance. He's 90 percent sure America needs a Warrior.
Carole Scarborough
Age: 69
Lives in: Manchester
Occupation: Semi retired; works part time for an organization that cares for disabled persons.
Both candidates handled the questions comparatively well.
snip
Both demonstrated that they did not respect the agreed-upon rules: they ignored signals that their allotted time was up, and spoke out of turn because ‘what they had to say was important.’ Sen. Obama seemed particularly prone to this.
snip
After this debate, I am leaning more to a write-in vote.
I don't know Carole. But I do know that Manchester is the smallest town represented in this group. It's not a suburb. It's not an exurb. It's a small Georgia town. And, at 69, Carole is right in John McCain's wheelhouse. So, McCain didn't seal the deal with Carole? What's it gonna take? Maybe Sarah should talk more about Bill Ayers to win over Carole and her neighbors. Maybe John needs to make a trip to Georgia to seal the deal.
I'm not sure what it will take at this point -- if anything -- but McCain hasn't done it yet.
More than 300,000 Georgians have already voted. Of those, 40 percent are African-American. It's just a guess but I think most of those votes are going Obama's way. If just 10 percent of the non-African Americans who have already voted, cast their vote for Obama then he is winning Georgia today.
To win, in Georgia and nationally, McCain has to find a message that works. He hasn't done it yet. My advice to him is to keep getting angry, keep talking about Bill Ayers and keep calling Barack Obama "that one."
Will it work for McCain? You betcha!
UPDATE: From theconquestofbread in the comments, please donate to help Georgia: ActBlue. Obama and Martin need to win this state and it's possible.