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CBS Webcast: Examining McCain-Obama debate No. 1

The presidential candidates weighed in on the banking crisis and foreign policy matters. Katie Couric and the CBS News political team offer a recap.

Jon Skillings Editorial director
Jon Skillings is an editorial director at CNET, where he's worked since 2000. A born browser of dictionaries, he honed his language skills as a US Army linguist (Polish and German) before diving into editing for tech publications -- including at PC Week and the IDG News Service -- back when the web was just getting under way, and even a little before. For CNET, he's written on topics from GPS, AI and 5G to James Bond, aircraft, astronauts, brass instruments and music streaming services.
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Jon Skillings

Foreign policy was to be the sole topic of the first debate of the 2008 presidential campaign, but urgent political realities also brought the economy front and center.

Sens. Barack Obama and John McCain squared off Friday evening at the University of Mississippi in the first of three debates between them ahead of Election Day on November 4. (Next up, though, is the vice-presidential debate on Thursday between Sen. Joe Biden and Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.)

Both men offered their takes on, among other things, how and when to engage in talks with Iran and what may come of ongoing talks in Congress about a financial bailout tied to the banking crisis--the latter a topic that could well be a continuing, and even defining, issue for whichever of the two becomes the next president.

For a recap of the debate, see the Webcast presented here from Katie Couric and the CBS News political team (originally presented immediately after Friday's debate).

Along with offering reaction to the debate from politicos including Rudy Giuliani, himself earlier this year a hopeful for the Republican nomination, the CBS Webcast features questions submitted from ordinary folk via the Web. Among the topics raised in the Web questions: pork-barrel spending, corporate taxes, military experience, and the age of the candidates.