Bush Team Prepares Net Assault

[Warsai]

For the millions of television viewers who tune in to the first presidential debate in Miami Thursday night, the event will probably seem scripted, familiar and maybe even cordial. And for good reason. The Republican and Democratic parties worked out detailed ground rules, all but promising that the televised debates will be uneventful.

But both campaigns plan to take off their gloves on the internet. In some respects, the real debate, or a better semblance of one, will take place in cyberspace.

The Bush campaign threw the first punch. Earlier this week, it launched a massive rapid-response effort called Debate Facts to rebut challenger John Kerry's assertions during the debates. The campaign will provide a live feed to about 5,000 conservative blogs that subscribe to its news alerts.

Debate Facts is similar to the "war room" the Bush campaign and the Republican National Committee set up in Boston during the Democratic convention -- only much larger and more sophisticated.

"Our rapid-response effort is based on the premise that no attack or no misstatement will go unchallenged," said Michael Turk, director of the internet campaign. His team of four programmers has been working on the software for Debate Facts for the past six weeks.

http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0...w=wn_tophead_1

[Bill Sikes]

Originally Posted by Warsai

For the millions of television viewers who tune in to the first presidential debate in Miami Thursday night, the event will probably seem scripted, familiar and maybe even cordial. And for good reason. The Republican and Democratic parties worked out detailed ground rules, all but promising that the televised debates will be uneventful.

It would be much more interesting to stick some gloves on 'em and put them
in a 24' ring, & see what happened.