Take Five, 19-days-to-go edition

1. It's tough to know for sure, but according to TV By the Numbers, it looks like all the commercial networks had better individual ratings for the debate than Fox did for the Phillies-Dodgers Wednesday night. The baseball game wasn't broken into hourly breakdowns. Either politics is now the "national pastime," or a lot of people are still angry with Manny Ramirez for sulking in Boston.

2. Right after the debate, Fox had its usual 87-11 or so result for McCain when its viewers were told to text in the winner's name. Then I went to CBS News' Web site (have I mentioned lately that CBS isn't available in Buffalo?), and saw its on-line poll, and Obama was ahead by about the same margin. So I can only conclude that all of the conservatives were watching Fox, and all of the liberals were watching CBS. And speaking of Fox, it was interesting that it went looking for Democratic commentators after the debate, and came up with Geraldine Ferraro. That must have been quite a search.

3. You may have heard that there's been some controversy about Obama's place of birth, even though he has posted his birth certificate on a Web site for all to see. I heard a radio commentator today say that Obama's alleged trip to Pakistan on an Indonesian passport was a "vital issue." Tell that to my 401K plan, sir.

4. Funny how several commentators right after the debate said that McCain had done really well, and then seemed to change their tune quite a bit when the polls results, indicating a public preference for Obama's performance, came in. David Gergen of CNN had the line of the night, when he was asked what he would tell John McCain to do next. "I wouldn't know what the hell to say," Gergen replied, bringing the group conversation to a halt with laughter.

5. Two remarks stuck with me by Senator McCain from Wednesday's debate. He said he'd balance the federal budget by the end of his first term (a claim repeated this morning by Gov. Palin), which strikes me as a neat trick considering he wants to cut taxes across the board and is facing billions of more expenditures in the light of our economic problems. And remember, we're not exactly balanced now. Math wasn't my best subject in school, but anyone will have trouble making these figures add up to zero.

The other was that McCain said he was proud of each and every person who came to one of his rallies. Better take a look at the video on my previous blog, Senator.