The Debate that Almost Wasn't

It happened after all.

As most of you know, McCain decided to show and the first Presidential Debate of this election year happened right here in Oxford on Friday night. As for Corrie and I, we decided to celebrate birthdays with the Merri-das (Merricks family with Cassada grandparents) in the mountains of north Georgia. So we weren't actually in town for the debate, but we did watch it on TV.

I'd like to make a few non-partisan observations:

• I like Jim Lehrer. He knows his stuff and made each candidate sweat a little.
• Though the candidates were constantly told to talk to each other, they didn't.
• The first 35 minutes of the 'Foreign Policy Debate' were not on foreign policy.
• McCain didn't look Obama in the eye once the entire night, and only once even glanced in his direction.
• Obama either has really good skin or a really good make-up artist.
• We now know that each candidate's jewelry of choice is a bracelet. (In other news, jewelry stores around the country experienced a run on engraved bracelets on Saturday morning.)