COUNTDOWN 2008: THE UNDECIDEDS: Panel able to draw conclusions

The format of Tuesday night’s presidential debate, more so than the content, stood out most to a panel of undecided Georgia voters. What was supposed to be a town hall event geared toward undecided voters often devolved into a typical head-to-head debate, said a group following the campaign for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Seth Rhine

Age: 32

Lives in: Monroe

Occupation: Teacher of Advanced Placement Economics and baseball coach in Gwinnett County.

“Overall, Barack seemed much more comfortable in this format than I expected. … I thought both candidates did fine with very little new stuff coming out. I think McCain is really going to have a tough time winning the election or any debate with Barack.”

Mandy Lewis

Age: 30

Lives in: Lawrenceville

Occupation: Technical support supervisor for Neurostar Solutions

“Obama stole the show for me tonight! He came across as very presidential, well thought-out, and prepared. I was annoyed with McCain’s condescending tone of voice when it come to foreign policy. … And for the record … still undecided … excited about Obama tonight, but all it will take is a few minutes of Palin and I am back on the fence.”

Nikki Shirah

Age: 51

Lives in: Covington

Occupation: School bus driver

“I am leaning toward Obama and I think he has it sewn up. … I don’t think people are willing to vote for four more years under the Republicans. Obama sounded very knowledgeable and did not stoop to McCain’s attacks on him. I think McCain came off condescending.”

Ef Rios

Age: 38

Lives in: Atlanta

Occupation: Technology

“As a math guy, I need to assign some kind of scoring system to know where I stand. On a scale of 1 to 10, I give McCain an 8 for his experience and clear details on several of his plans. He gets low marks on his unreal descriptions of Iraq and unchecked deregulatory ideas. … I give Obama a low 5 due to his grandiose and vague plans. He gets high marks for his vision, calm demeanor and balanced reasoning. … If I were only voting for a president, McCain would have my vote. Since I am voting for a team, I think Palin was a weak choice for McCain and maybe the Obama-Biden ticket is a more balanced option.”

Terrance Smith

Age: 45

Lives in: Ellenwood

Occupation: Law enforcement

“I saw a debate between a negotiator (Obama) and a warrior (McCain). Who would you choose? I say it depends on the situation that is being faced. …

“I look at McCain as wanting to bring political bipartisanship into play, something I would embrace. I am 90 percent sure I will be casting a McCain vote in the advance voting week.”

Carole Scarborough

Age: 69

Lives in: Manchester

Occupation: Semi retired; works part time for an organization that cares for the disabled.

“Both candidates handled the questions comparatively well. Both were guilty once or twice of giving answers that were non-responsive to the question posed. Both demonstrated that they did not respect the agreed-upon rules: They ignored signals that their allotted time was up, and spoke out of turn. … Sen. Obama seemed particularly prone to this..”

“After this debate, I am leaning more to a write-in vote, but will watch the last debate. …”