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New York, October 10, 2008: As the global financial markets continue to experience turmoil, and early voting has started in some U.S. states, the candidates have completed their second debate. But while the media reaction showed Obama as the clear winner, the debate may not have helped either candidate.

"Obama received no negative ratings on the debate itself," says Roland Schatz, President of Media Tenor International. "Despite this, his media image as well as McCain´s went down following the debate. Increased attacks from the McCain campaign and both candidates being rated negatively on economic issues contributed to this slide."

The debate, however, might not have much impact on the race. “Everyone is talking about the economy,” Schatz notes. “Because of the high volume of negative financial news, the debate hasn´t lingered in the media, making it less important than it might have been in other circumstances.”

However, Schatz observed that when compared head to head on the economy, Obama has extended his advantage over McCain on economic issues. “Obama is rated less negatively than McCain, and right now that´s giving him a growing advantage. The question is whether he can hold on to it, as it´s more against McCain than it is for Obama.”

Meanwhile, according to Media Tenor´s data, polls and predictions are also recognizing the Obama advantage.

"Obama has increased his lead in the polls both on a nationwide basis and a state-by-state basis. Many predictions of the electoral college results are very favorable for him, especially as some critical swing states have moved towards the Democratic ticket, so coverage of polling and election predictions have shown a sharp positive jump for Obama, which may help perpetuate that momentum.”

For the third time, International Media analysis company Media Tenor is offering a detailed analysis of the U.S. presidential campaign. TV news coverage of the leading Presidential contenders is scrutinized at a detailed level. “The methodology was developed 15 years ago and has been successfully used not only to analyze the 2000 and 2004 U.S. Presidential campaigns, but also for International politics,” Schatz explains. Media Tenor´s Presidential Campaign Watch focuses not only on candidate standings, but also on topics and sources, while adding an international perspective. Results of Media Tenor studies will be regularly published on MediaChannel.org.

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