The Penn Democrats have just sent out an e-mail saying Drew Barrymore and Zach Braff will not appear on campus Monday.

“We regret to inform you that Drew Barrymore and Zach Braff have canceled all of their Pennsylvania campaign visits this Monday,” the e-mail said.

Barrymore and Braff had been scheduled to appear at Houston Hall Monday afternoon.

Drew Barrymore and Zach Braff will come to Penn Monday afternoon, according to an e-mail from the Penn Democrats.

The two will speak in Houston Hall at noon.

Braff and Barrymore will also appear at Drexel University Monday morning to help register voters, according to the Drexel Democrats. Oct. 6 is the last day to register to vote in Pennsylvania before the Nov. 4 general election.

I’m losing battery on my laptop, and Huntsman Hall 240 has no power outlet for me.

McCain talks up Iran as “existential threat” to Israel. Points out that Iranians are coming into Iraq, and that the Iranian Republican Guard is in Iraq. He says he believes that threat can be reduced through work with democratic nations.

Obama claims that the Iraq War has increased Iran’s power in the region. Agrees that nuclear Iran would “set off arms race in the Middle East” and that it does pose threat to Israel. Goes there himself with talking with Iran.

McCain argues against the “without preconditions” meetings with Chavez, Ahmadinejad, and Castro. McCain says he’ll sit down with anybody, so long as preconditions exist.

Obama says, as president, he reserves right to sit down with anyone for protection of American people.

Parallel arguments.

McCain is addressing the Afghan question with his knowledge of the region, saying that he’s “been there” and knows about the politics. “I would not publicly say that I’m going to attack [Pakistan].”

Obama, meanwhile, is talking up strategy and the need for forces currently in Iraq. There’s also this question of whether Obama favors attacking Pakistan, which I think he wins through a typically conservative (!) argument through military strikes on terrorists.

McCain is now going over his 26 year record on military hesitancy — opposing forces in Lebanon, Somalia; favoring forces in Gulf War and Bosnia.

McCain now talks about the lessons of Iraq, which is a great answer for his surge argument.
However, Obama is now also able to use this to his advantage — judgment, saying the lesson is that we never should have gone over to Iraq.

Obama is now going over the down sides of Iraq, and says we “took our eye off the ball.”

McCain now attacking Obama, charging that Obama still would have opposed surge in hindsight — something Obama has had trouble addressing clearly.

Obama: “War started in 2003. Not in 2007.” Now goes over points that “you were wrong” on a number of issues.

McCain: “Let us win. We don’t want our kids coming back here.” McCain says that Obama wants to lose (”that’s not true,” injects Obama).

Obama: “Afghanistan has worsened, deteriorated.” Says that funding differences were based on timetable, not general will to not fund troops.

McCain now says that Obama risks “snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.”

McCain could easily win on this point, in the sense that he wants to cut spending and that he’s known for that stance. In fact, he just laid out examples, and said “I know how to do that,” referring to cutting programs.

“We’ll have to scrub every agency of government.”

Obama says he’ll “invest” in domestic energy to lower energy costs, which isn’t exactly “cutting” programs. Lehrer is pushing him on this point — Obama blames lobbyists.

Now Lehrer is cutting at both candidates on what gets cut out of their programs in the midst of an economic downturn — McCain supports now a “spending freeze” on everything but military, veterans, and entitlement programs.

Lehrer is pushing them to now recognize what effect this will have on their budgets.
Obama says he’ll have to make “tough decisions,” but that it’s important who you prioritize. Says its a bad decision to give tax cuts to “those who didn’t ask for them.”

McCain says one of the reasons the economy is in such bad shape is that spending has gotten out of control.

Best new term: “Orgy of spending,” via Obama on Bush spending increases that he claims McCain agreed with “90% of time.”

…or “that’s just not true.”

The candidates seem to be going back and forth on their records, which I think will end up being a moot point for both. They’re trying to fact check each other, and I feel like the details they’re disagreeing about won’t resonate with the American people.

Generally, they both don’t seem to be throwing any big punches. I’ve been seeing a lot of opportunities for both candidates, and I feel like they both don’t want to go there so quickly.

Wait and see…

McCain is charging on pretty hard so far with the “cut spending” line. And Obama agrees that earmarks have been “abused.”

[General view so far is that McCain's voice sounds pretty monotone, and even his notorious jokes are falling flat. If he's going to be funny, he needs quick, witty comments.]

Obama is now touting his tax plan (cut taxes on 95% of Americans) — something he must do to refute the common belief that he is a “tax-and-spend liberal.”
McCain is now refuting with taxing charges in a time of economic peril.
Obama comes back pretty quickly with a correction.