We just heard from state Rep. Michael Scionti here.

Here’s video of our interview with Rep. Michael Scionti:

And Hillsborough County Commission candidate Kevin Beckner stopped by to remind the crowd why they shouldn’t vote for incumbent Brian Blair.

The third and final round of the Barack Obama-John McCain debates is set for 9 p.m. at Hofstra University on Long Island.

I will be camped out at Tre Amici coffeehouse in Ybor City Wednesday to lead the troops in commenting and fact-checking the debates as we have Round 2 and the vice presidential. Just check back on PoHo blog sometime between 8:30 and 9 tonight.

(source: CNN.com debate transcript)

Facts: OK, we admit to initially being stumped by McCain’s assertion that the bailout plan, for which he suspended his campaign and went to Washington to urge lawmakers to pass, was secretly helping terrorist organizations. (Transitively, does that mean that McCain was supporting terrorist organizations? Of course not.)

But there is a possible indirect link between the bailout plan for bad mortgages and terrorism. This from Diane Francis of The National Post in Canada:

In fact, an Assyrian news website carried a story back in mid-2007 that FBI and other officials were concerned about a “growing trend of terrorist associations [involved] with mortgage fraud rings in the U.S.”
“In the past year [2007], several high-profile mortgage fraud arrests have been tied to federal terrorism investigations, most notably a ring busted up in Salt Lake City that is alleged to have direct ties to the late al-Qaeda leader in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi,” said the story.
Money was obtained from banks fraudulently then transferred to Middle Eastern bank accounts controlled by terrorists. These cases grind through courts.

The Assyrian news story began:

A man arrested in December at the Kansas City airport with $70,000 in his bulging pockets while trying to board a Southwest Airlines flight claiming the money was actually Muslim prayer books, a San Francisco mortgage company executive who went on the run from the FBI in November, seven people arrested in September in Salt Lake City with ties to al-Qaeda, and a co-defendant in the Sami al-Arian/Palestinian Islamic Jihad trial all have one thing in common — the growing trend of terrorist associations with mortgage fraud rings in the US.

(It must be pointed out that the Assyrian account lists Al-Arian co-defendant Sameeh Hammoudeh as part of this great mortgage fraud terrorism effort, a gross misrepresentation of the mortgage fraud charge he pleaded to in court. His fraud charges related to his concealment of his employment at the Islamic Academy, and not fraud in subprime mortgages. Oh, and Hammoudeh was not a terrorist, either.)

The UK, likewise, has suspicions that terrorists used bad mortgages:

An intelligence report by the Association of Chief Police Officers said that organised crime groups used mortgage fraud to generate income and launder money from the proceeds of their operations, such as drugs, human trafficking and prostitution.

“While there is no evidence to suggest mortgage fraud directly funds terrorist acts, this area of criminality has been encountered during investigations into UK-based terrorist groups,” it said. “Mortgage fraud can be used to finance infrastructure including safe houses.”

Given this tenuous link to terrorism (if that is indeed what McCain was referring to) and misimpression that either the bailout or Wall Street aided terrorists, we judge this statement to be Bullshit.

——

Just a reminder for you to join us tonight as we live blog our thoughts as Barack Obama and John McCain duke it out in Round 2 of the 2008 presidential debates. This one is live from Nashville.

I’ll put up an open thread just before 9 p.m. Drinking game words: middle class, economy, tax cuts, terrorists, William Ayers (double shot), Charles Keating (double shot), moose (entire bottle or full beer), every time Brokaw mumbles.

The debate setting at Belmont University in the Music City

Expect McCain to come out blasting Obama’s character and the fact that he consorted with former domestic terrorists. Obama’s job is to keep reminding everyone of the Dow Jones Industrials Average. Expect me to ask the immortal question: Where the hell is Belmont University?

Yummy presidential debate water in preparation for Tuesday's event

Make a notation in your PDA of choice for Thursday night at 9 p.m. for the vice presidential debates between Sarah Palin and Joe Biden. I’ll be here (sorry, I was on the road traveling last Friday night for the first presidential debate) ready at the enter key for the veep battle, and I will open a thread just before the show starts.

In the meantime, some reading material background for you to digest so you can have informed and intelligent comments (along with the usual barrage of partisan insults and snarky remarks). This is from the Marist Poll, full text after the jump:

This Marist Poll reports:

THE VICE PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE:

WAIT AND SEE…NEARLY ONE IN FIVE VOTERS UNSURE
WHO WILL WIN VICE PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE:
A plurality of registered voters nationwide — 45% — think Senator Joe Biden will beat his Republican opponent, Governor Sarah Palin, during Thursday night’s vice presidential debate while 36% think Palin will make the better showing.  However, close to one in five voters, including nearly a quarter of Independents, say they just don’t know which candidate will be victorious.  Republican and Democratic voters stand along party lines.  Regardless of whom they support, 71% of Democrats say Biden will win the debate while 66% of Republicans think Palin will.  By a difference of 6 percentage points — 41% to 35% — Independents believe Biden will win.

VOTERS DIVIDE…THINK BIDEN TO APPEAR MORE
INFORMED…PALIN MORE LIKEABLE:
Voters’ expectations differ when it comes to the candidate who will come across as more knowledgeable on the issues and the one who will leave a more likeable impression.  61% of registered voters nationally say Biden will have a greater understanding of the issues compared with just 28% for Palin.  Looking at the parties, Democrats stand strong behind their candidate.  84% think Biden will have a better grasp of the campaign’s key issues.  Although a majority of Republicans — 54% — believe Governor Palin will appear better informed than her Democratic rival, about a third of voters in her own party report Senator Biden will be more knowledgeable.  Independents agree with the Democrats.  61% of Independents believe Biden will show a greater depth of knowledge on the issues.

However, voters expect Palin to take top honors when it comes to likeability.  65% of registered voters believe she will come across as more likeable during Thursday’s debate while just 23% think Biden will present a more pleasant demeanor.  Even Democrats are divided on how likeable Biden will appear.  Just slightly more voters in Biden’s own party — 46% — are confident he will appear more likeable compared with 42% who think Palin will.  When it comes to the GOP, there’s no question where they stand.  89% of Republicans expect the Alaskan governor to appear more pleasant compared with 6% who anticipate Biden will.  Here, Independents agree with the Republicans.  Seven in ten Independents believe Palin will outshine her Democratic opponent in this way.

STILL TIME TO MAKE A FIRST IMPRESSION?
Neither Joe Biden nor Sarah Palin are viewed favorably by a majority of voters.  49% of the national electorate says they have a favorable impression of Sarah Palin compared with 45% who have a positive image of Joe Biden.  But, 13% are still unsure how to rate Palin while 21% have yet to form an opinion of Biden.  38% have a negative of impression of Palin, and 34% view Biden unfavorably.

NATURE OF THE SAMPLE: 801 AMERICANS
This survey was conducted on September 24th and 25th, 2008.  801 adults 18 years of age or older within the continental United States were interviewed by telephone. Telephone numbers were selected based upon a list of telephone exchanges from throughout the nation.  The exchanges were selected to ensure that each region was represented in proportion to its population.  The results of the entire survey are statistically significant at +/-3.5%.  There are 693 registered voters.  The result for this sub-sample is statistically significant at +/-4%.  The margin for error increases for cross-tabulations.

Please feel free to fight amongst yourselves for a few minutes …

I’m back, and here we go with Great Moments in Debating History:

What if Kitty was raped and murdered?

As a reminder, we’ll be live blogging the debate tonight starting at 8 p.m. (Perhaps you’ve noticed our snazzy countdown clock at top-right.)

Be there or be John McCain square.

Be there … or be McCain.

If you can’t make it on Friday, fear not faithful reader: We’ll be also be live blogging the other debates (two additional presidential debates, one V.P. debate), giving you four chances to add your voice to the animated conversation surrounding one of the most exciting presidential elections in American history.

Hope to see you Friday!