WHO WOULD YOU NAME TO THE SUPREME COURT? Bush foolishly doesn’t say “Eugene Volokh.” Strict constructionist. Long disquisition on what makes a good or bad judge. The Dred Scott discussion is a bit confused.

Kerry: Bush will appoint conservatives like Scalia and Thomas. I’ll name a Justice whose opinions aren’t political. Sounds a lot like what Bush says.

UPDATE: A reader emails that Kerry voted to confirm Scalia.

STEM CELL QUESTION FOR KERRY: He invokes Nancy Reagan. (Notice how many Republicans he’s mentioning? Reagan, Eisenhower, McCain, etc.)

Interestingly, though, he takes a question about science — adult stem cells work — and turns it into a question on morality.

Nonetheless, it’s his strongest bit yet, though he overstates Bush’s “ban.”

Bush: Embryonic stem cell research requires the destruction of life to create a stem cell. I’m the first President to fund it. (Huh? Bad transition here, I think. . . ) His delivery is good, though: Science is good, but so is ethics. Still, he’s in a tough position, looking like a straddler compared to Kerry.

Kerry: Pounces: Hits Bush here for waffling. He’s got him on this one, I think. Bush is trying to be nuanced.

Bush: My embryos had already been destroyed. I made the decision to balance science and ethics.

Watching both of them, stem cell research must be polling well.

PATRIOT ACT QUESTION: Bush: I don’t think your rights are being watered down. We’re giving antiterrorist forces the same powers drug warriors have had. This argument doesn’t impress me! He does better on the intelligence-sharing bit and the Lackawanna 6.

Kerry: Invokes Racicot and Sensenbrenner against the Patriot Act. (Payback for the Robert Rubin bit!) People’s rights have been abused. He’s pretty good on this, even noting that he voted for the Patriot Act. “I’m not a flip-flopper, I believe in the Patriot Act.” But we can’t let the terrorists change the constitution. Good delivery here.

OUTSOURCING: Bush invokes Robert Rubin against Kerry. Nice.

KYOTO TREATY: Bush muffs this by not noting that Clinton let it die, and the Senate voted against it 97-0. Kerry: Kyoto was flawed. I was in Kyoto. Maybe not the best way of phrasing it. Then he comes close to saying that terrorism is b/c of Kyoto.

ENVIRONMENT TALK; ZZzzz.

KERRY: Read my lips — no new taxes on people making under $200K a year!

Bush: Look at his record in the Senate — he’s not credible as a fiscal conservative. Of course he’s going to raise your taxes.

I’D LIKE TO SEE THE RATINGS — I’ll bet that this back-and-forth on tax cuts is causing a lot of viewers to tune out.

SO IS BUSH A CRUEL starver of children or a fiscal profligate? Both!

THE HEALTHCARE DEBATE IS PRETTY LAME: I’d link to Ron Bailey’s excellent article on this in the latest Reason, but it’s not online yet.

“I’M A LAWYER, TOO?” I actually agree with Kerry that the trial-lawyer attacks are a distraction, but I wonder if this is a good slogan.

Bush — Kerry’s a liberal. That’s a weak slogan, too, though he does cut into Kerry’s dumb Shrumian “I’ll fight for you” stuff.

UPDATE: Ernest Castillo emails:

“I’M A LAWYER, TOO?” Yes, you are indeed.

My wife’s Doctor pays over 1 million dollars per year in insurance premiums and he’s considered one of the best in the are of fertility. He also teaches at the college level but doesn’t blog…

Well, there’s his problem.

MEDICARE: ZZzzz.

HEH: “Is it just me, or are these questions ridiculously pro-Kerry? I mean, where’s Chris Farley’s guy saying, ‘Senator Kerry……remember when you were in Cambodia at Christmas? That was so awesome…..'”

WHY NO TERRORIST ATTACKS IN THREE YEARS? Kerry is stumbling and stammering; I think he knows this is a weak point for him in his argument that Bush is making America less safe. Talking about tax cuts?

Bush pounces. Notes that Kerry cut intelligence budget after 1st WTC attack. Says we have to stay on the offense.

Looks to me as if Bush is getting stronger, Kerry weaker as this goes on. He’s staying on the offense here.

DRAFT: Bush: No draft. The all-volunteer army works. We don’t need mass armies anymore. Good answer here. Nice stress on military transformation. We’re not going to have a draft so long as I’m president.

Kerry: We’re overextended. Sounds like he might want a draft. Wastes a lot of time citing generals who endorse him. Interesting that he has to invoke Reagan and Eisenhower as examples of Presidential toughness.

Bush response: Tell Tony Blair and our other allies we’re going it alone. You cannot lead an alliance when you denigrate our allies.

KERRY IS SWEATING. The Iran question isn’t helping. What would Kerry do? He doesn’t answer, shifts to Iraq — but the “let the inspectors work” argument doesn’t fly given that inspections and sanctions aren’t working in Iran.

Now we’re onto North Korea? Instead of exasperated, Bush is looking incredulous.

Bush calls him on the “inspectors” bit. Says that Kerry is naive and dangerous about North Korea. Hits on Kerry’s bilateral/multilater straddle, says Kerry’s following the failed Clinton strategy.

KERRY REPEATS THE “Shinseki fired” story. Will he be called on it?

UPDATE: Reader Carroll Bloyd emails that ABC has nailed him:

On ABC’s Fact Check segment after the debate, Jake Tapper explained that Kerry was wrong about Shinseki, gave the facts, and added something like “Kerry must surely know this by now–it’s been pointed out everywhere.” Must have really stuck in Peter and Jake’s craw to have to do this . . .

And all the more credit to him, then.

BUSH turns around the “foreigners hate us” question by invoking Ronald Reagan. Nice answer.

Is it just me, or are these questions leaning pretty anti-Bush?

UPDATE: Reader Amy Lopez emails: “Definitely Not Just You – Softballs Kerry, Tough Q’s for Bush.”

POLIPUNDIT:

Within the first 5 minutes of the first presidential debate, I declared Kerry the winner, and “not just in the high-school debate-coach sense of the word.”

And now, within the first 5 minutes of the second presidential debate, I’m saying Bush is cleaning Kerry’s clock.

Bush has the easier task. If he just showed up and didn’t scowl a lot, he’d beat expectations.

But the rout goes well beyond that. Kerry is rattling off numbers and sounding negative, not connecting with his questioner. Bush, on the other hand, is sure, at ease, and scoring hits on Kerry.

There’s more.

KERRY’S CRITICISM OF “PUSHING AWAY” OUR ALLIES would be stronger if the Iraq Study Group report hadn’t just demonstrated that many of them were on the take from Saddam.

I’VE NEVER CHANGED MY MIND ABOUT IRAQ? I’m not persuaded by Kerry’s bit here. And I don’t see how Kerry can combine talk about the danger of Iran and North Korea with the bit about how Bush should have focused on Osama.

DOES ABC HAVE A THUMB ON THE SCALES? A rather dubious anti-Bush internal memo on debate spin. Hey, I think Evan Thomas may have been right about the press wanting Kerry to win. . . .

UPDATE: Power Line: “Is it conceivable that President Bush can survive the media onslaught, unprecedented in American history, that has been unleashed against him?”

LIVEBLOGGING THE DEBATE TONIGHT: Hugh Hewitt, with his trademark question/answer grid, now featuring a “camera shot” block, too.

Ann Althouse will be simul-blogging with TiVo backup. (And scroll down for her mystery voice post).

So will N.Z. Bear and Spoons.

If you’ll be liveblogging, let me know.

I don’t know if they’ll give last names, but it might be useful for some people out there to Google the “uncommitted” folks, and check their names against OpenSecrets.org too.

More liveblogging at Alarming News.

Also at The Valkyrie, who should really be working on her thesis. Metallicity, too — about the blogging I mean. I don’t know about the thesis.

These guys just might be liveblogging in actual pajamas. I don’t know what they’re wearing at The Politburo, but they’re liveblogging, too.

Various guests will be liveblogging at Protein Wisdom, probably wearing togas. . . . (Daniel Drezner, who’s partying in Milan, is no doubt wearing something stylish, but he won’t be liveblogging tonight.)

And if you don’t have a blog of your own, LaShawn Barber invites you to live-comment on her blog.

Power Line will be live-blogging,

So will Roger Abramson at The Nashville Scene and the folks at MSNBC’s Hardblogger.

And don’t forget Where’s the Pope?

More here, here, and here, too.

Here’s a huge list of livebloggers, too.

And Llama Butchers are liveblogging from St. Louis.

FALLING DOWN (DRUNK?) ON THE JOB: Stephen Green will liveblog the debate — tomorrow, on TiVo.

JUST GOT THIS DEMOCRATIC EMAIL, URGING:

So, help spin for John Kerry . . . Vote in Online Polls!
National and local news organizations will be conducting online polls during
and after the debate asking for readers’ opinions. Look for online polls at
these news websites, and make sure to vote in every one of them:
*   CBS: http://www.cbsnews.com/
*   CNN: http://www.cnn.com/
*   Fox News: http://www.foxnews.com/
*   MSNBC: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/
*   Wall Street Journal: http://www.wsj.com/
*   Akron Beacon-Journal: http://www.ohio.com/
*   Atlanta Journal-Constitution: http://www.ajc.com/
*   Detroit News: http://www.detnews.com/
*   Los Angeles Times: http://www.latimes.com/
*   Minneapolis-St. Paul Star-Tribune: http://www.startribune.com/
*   Orlando Sentinel: http://www.orlandosentinel.com/
*   Philadelphia Inquirer: http://www.philly.com/
*   South Florida Sun-Sentinel: http://www.sun-sentinel.com/
*   Tennessean: www.tennessean.com
*   Knoxville News-Sentinel: www.knoxnews.com
*   Commercial Appeal: www.commercialappeal.com

So there you are!