WASHINGTON - Republican presidential candidate John McCain may not have blinked first in his debates with Barack Obama — but he certainly blinked more often, which is not a good thing.

Candidates who blink more than their opponents in debates tend to lose presidential elections, says Boston College psychology professor J.J. Tecce, and McCain outblinked Obama during the their three debates this fall.

“People are picking up McCain’s rapid blinking and saying, ‘There’s something about him that’s awfully twitchy and nervous and I don’t think I want to vote for that guy,’” said Tecce, who has presented a paper on blinking in debates.

Tecce said rapid blinking is an indicator of negative emotions such as fear, pain or stress. Most people blink 10 to 20 times per minute, a rate that increases to between 30 and 50 times per minute if they’re in front of a television camera.

The Republican McCain, who trails Democrat Obama by 4 to 14 percentage points in most polls, blinked 109 times per minute during the first debate, while Obama blinked 73 times per minute. Tecce said that gap persisted in the next two debates.

Obama has unhelpful tics of his own, such as a tendency to  look down at the ground, but voters appear to not pick up on these cues as readily as they do rapid blinking, Tecce said.

The presidential candidate who blinked more than his opponent during debates has lost every election since 1976 — with the exception of 2000 when blink-happy George W. Bush lost the popular vote to Democrat Al Gore but won the White House.

The blinking pattern held during this year’s Democratic primaries. Obama and rival Hillary Clinton each registered about 40 to 50 blinks per minute during Democratic debates, far less than rivals who quickly dropped out of the race.

On the Republican side, McCain was the fastest blinker of the bunch. Ron Paul clocked in at a serene 10 blinks per minute and only Mitt Romney registered in the ideal 40-blinks-per-minute range.

“I think they shot themselves in the foot on body language,” Tecce said.

Click here for more Reuters 2008 campaign coverage.

The third and final presidential debate is over after intense sparring between Republican hopeful John McCain and Democratic contender Barack Obama.

Have voters heard enough from the two candidates? McCain has been falling behind in recent polls, was he able to close the gap or was Obama able to solidify his lead?

Click here for more Reuters 2008 campaign coverage. 

- Photo credit: Reuters/Shannon Stapleton

Round two of the presidential debates between Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama is over.

How did they do?

The town hall format was seen as an advantage for McCain. Did he live up to expectations?

Obama has been gaining an edge in many battleground states. Did he do anything to undermine or enhance his small lead?

Did they focus enough on the issues? Were undecided voters swayed?

Click here for more Reuters 2008 campaign coverage 

- Photo credit: Reuters/Carlos Barria

The second presidential tete-a-tete in Nashville on Tuesday was dubbed a “town hall” debate which freed Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain from the stodgy podiums and allowed them to roam around the stage to talk to the audience and cameras.

Often when members of the audience — 100 undecided Nashville voters identified by the Gallup polling company — asked a question, each candidate walked as close as he could and often thanked them by name for asking. Obama and McCain then paced back and forth across the stage to address the entire audience as they answered.

McCain, who loves the town hall format, got in one jibe against Obama for finally attending one after he failed to get him to agree to hold such discussions every week until the Nov. 4 election. “Senator Obama, it’s good to be with you at a town hall meeting,” McCain said.

When one candidate answered a question, the other typically sat on a tall chair listening and taking notes on a side table. On occasion, one would stand up while the other talked in anticipation of giving a response to refute one point or another.

The one obvious violation of the ground rules was going over the allotted time. The moderator, Tom Brokaw of NBC News, repeatedly pleaded with McCain and Obama to stay within the confines of the short responses.

“Gentlemen, you may not have noticed but we have lights around here.  They have red and green and yellow and they are to signal…” he said, referring to the time allotments.

Brokaw vented further frustration with the candidates’ refusal to heed the time limits when Obama and then McCain insisted they needed to follow up on each others’ statements over Pakistan.
    
“I’m just the hired help here,” Brokaw said.
    
Obama replied, “You’re doing a great job, Tom” and then launched into a criticism of McCain’s comments on Pakistan.  

- Additional reporting by Caren Bohan

- Photo credit: Reuters/Carlos Barria

Click here for more Reuters 2008 campaign coverage. 

WASHINGTON - Republican presidential hopeful John McCain has proposed postponing the first debate with his rival, Democrat Barack Obama, citing a need for the two senators to return to Congress to help hammer out a compromise on a $700 billion bailout for Wall Street.

For his part, Obama said the debate, which is to focus on foreign policy, should go ahead because now is a time when Americans need to hear from the candidates.

Should the two White House hopefuls go on with the show? Should they switch the topic of the debate to the economy? Or should they cancel as McCain suggested while dealing with the crisis?

Have your say in the comments section, or log onto the news prediction market HubDub to place a virtual wager on whether Friday’s scheduled debate will take place.

Will the Obama/McCain debate happen on Friday?

Click here for more Reuters 2008 campaign coverage.

WILMINGTON, N.C. - Hillary Clinton, invoking the drama of a lusty street fight, repeated her challenge to Barack Obama for a debate free of moderators or a set agenda.

“We could even do it on the back of a flatbed truck. It doesn’t even need to be in some fancy studio somewhere,” she told a campaign rally on the banks of the Cape Fear River.

Her rival for the Democratic Party presidential nomination has deflected the request and said he would debate her after primary votes in Indiana and North Carolina on May 6.

“We need a president on day one ready to be our commander in chief, ready to turn our economy around. That is why I have to say I am very, very regretful that my opponent will not agree to a debate in North Carolina, because I think these issues are worth debating,” she said, goading her opponent for not being ‘tough’ enough.

“Tough questions in a debate is nothing like the tough decisions you’ve got to make in the White House…no moderators, just the 2 of us on a stage for 90 minutes.”

Click here for more Reuters 2008 campaign coverage.

- Photo credit: Reuters/John Gress (Hillary Clinton campaigns in Indianapolis).