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Media Commentator Paul JanenschThe vice presidential debate between Republican Sarah Palin and Democrat Joe Biden is tonight.  But people are still arguing about who won the presidential debate last Friday.  As media commentator Paul Janensch points out, the news accounts and the polling figures are not in agreement.

According to the news reports, the debate between Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama was a tie.  But independent polls released later said Obama was the winner.  Those early news reports – on television, radio and the Internet and in the next morning’s newspapers – said that neither candidate landed a knockout blow.  

For sure, there were no memorable one-liners, such as “There you go again.”  The commentators  -- as distinguished from news reporters -- were predictable.  On the Fox News Channel, conservative Bill Kristol said, McCain was on the offense.  No, said liberal Juan Williams, Obama was on the offense.  Conservative George Will said on ABC that Obama was a professor conducting a seminar and McCain was “a rather hotter personality, the national scold.”   

It’s hard to tell how much influence the post-debate spinning had on the follow-up news coverage.  Strategists for both campaigns met with crowds of journalists under a tent outside the University of Mississippi auditorium.  McCain people noted that Obama repeatedly said he agreed with McCain on one point or another.  In fact, they even produced an instant ad for the Internet, showing those “I agree with John” moments.  

An Obama spokesman said she was astonished that Obama was being mocked for acknowledging that the two have areas of agreement.  Was Obama too nice, as some commentators alleged?  Frankly, that was my opinion.  But apparently, lots of viewers thought he was just being presidential.  

According to the USA Today/Gallup poll, the Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg poll, the Rasmussen poll and the Opinion Research Corporation poll, Obama won by at least five percentage points – and as many as 12.  

The TV ratings for the first Obama-McCain debate were not as high as expected.  About 52 million people were watching, compared with the 62 million who watched the first debate between George W. Bush and John Kerry in 2004.

Will more people watch the vice presidential debate tonight?  Who will prevail?  Will it be Joe Biden, the gabby Washington insider?  Or will it be Sarah Palin, the moose-skinning hockey mom?  Maybe the news reports will again say it’s a tie, but the viewers surveyed will declare a winner.

Media commentator Paul Janensch is a former newspaper editor who teaches journalism at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut.