Final Debate: A Youth Response

While some met in bars or clubs to watch the debate over beers Wednesday night, some joined in online to participate in CurrentTV/Twitter's real time Hack the Debate. During the debate folks could tweet on the social networking site Twitter and CurrentTV would run the twitter feed with the tag #current along with the debate.

Others were simply tagging #debate08 when following along with the Twitter debate.

Many on Twitter were responding by quoting notable verbiage from the candidates and others were attacking or commenting. Bill, who goes by Sparky89 was also chatting with me, but his tweets were priceless. At the twenty minute mark Bill tweeted "Now we have Joe the Plumber to go drinking with Joe Six Pack"

MattOrtega on Twitter said he felt like Obama's specifics were his shining light,
"Obama kicking ass on the housing crisis with specific proposals, instead of just repeating "people are hurting."

My Facebook Friends status updates was also going wild with people commenting on my wall as I was updating my status.

Natasha posted to her Facebook she felt McCain's comments about abortion rights was extremist, and Brian wanted to let everyone know that he has a brother named Joe but he's not a plumber but a pipe fitter.

At the same time I was chatting with friends in Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, Washington DC, and New Jersey all about the debate. My friend Bill, a rabid Obama supporter was relatively quite but ended our chat by saying he was calling it for Obama and then signed off. Sarah said the split screen killed McCain and made him look old and play into what people are saying about him. Lauren learned how to use Twitter tonight and said she was waiting for "hey you kids get off my lawn!" The popular McCain comparison between Grandpa Simpson from The Simpsons that has made it around the internet.

In the end the responses online were much the same as the ones watching the debates at the parties
(see video below)

Young voters still believe very strongly in Obama, and the McCain message doesn't seem to be resonating with friends of mine or strangers, even in the red state of Kansas.

Sarah Burris was raised in Oklahoma and graduated from the University of Kansas with a degree in English Creative Writing with a minor in Peace and Conflict Studies. She covers young local, state and federal political candidates and their legislative agendas, rural issues, Green Jobs and the environment. She's a reporter for Rock the Trail -- a project of Rock the Vote and WireTap. Her writing has also appeared at Future Majority and Everyday Citizen.