WASHINGTON – The Washington Convention Center percolated with palpable excitement as hundreds of Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) members and conventioneers formed a “debate party,” with national media recording it, as the most exciting and historic presidential campaign of all time unfolded hundreds of miles away in the Deep South. The first African American Democratic nominee rumbled with the oldest presidential candidate in history in Oxford, Miss. Dozens of security and plainclothes officers surveyed the scene as the excitable crowd interspersed cheering and booing throughout the surreal evening. The oft-overcrowded District of Columbia came to a virtual halt during the 90-minute inaugural debate as denizens packed nearby hotels, bars and nightclubs to see history in the making.
Several attendees agreed to share their thoughts after the CBC throng emptied into the black expanse after the debates: 
“I thought that the debate was a great thing. Obama presented himself very well. McCain … I didn’t like him trying to degrade Obama. Because as has been stated in the past, we are ready for a change; we need a change. And McCain is not the one to take that change.” — Ethel Miles, Atlanta
“I think that Obama won in a lot of different facets. One, he knew the Who? What? Where? When? – particularly when it came to foreign policy. He knew who [was] participating in what and what their agendas are. He also understands the cross-sectional political lies to whose are not similar to those of American way of life. I think sometimes McCain is stupid and some of his ignorance [stems from] the ways he perceives and responds to different things and his vision. I personally [think] he doesn’t have a vision of his own despite all those years in political life. When you have someone like Obama who has been around, who is experienced with trials and tribulations–domestic and foreign–That’s what we need now. We need someone who has an understanding.” — Linda Brown, Houston
“I thought they both they did very good. I don’t like the word he uses that Barack is not understanding. That’s a degrading statement that everything he responds to, to influence people. I think that’s unfair in a way, but I understand that this is politics and you are trying to win. I think that he’s very informed. I think his plan will work. I think that we in America need to change. I think McCain is too old. I think he’s part of the old man system, that they have up there and he’s a part of that. Well, even 28 years with the old boys, so he’s in it, why doesn’t he leave? It’s a mess. It’s a mess. He needs to be gone.” –Melinda Kite, Atlanta
“I think that McCain needed a homerun and I don’t think he got it. I was really impressed with John McCain because I thought that Barack Obama would hit a homerun. I think it was sort of even. I think that some people would probably want [Barack to fire back more often to McCain’s barbs], but quite frankly, that’s not Obama’s style. He’s a diplomat. And he exercises diplomacy and that’s just his style. He’s not and what attracts him to a lot of people the fact that he’s not an attack dog. He is a diplomat. He’s the kind of president that we need, because we need diplomacy around the world. Not just here but abroad. We need somebody who can sit down with Republicans and Democrats and England as well as people in Iraq and Iran. And that’s what Obama Represents to me. We don’t need someone who is going to be on the attack all the time with his cowboy mentality that George W. Bush.” –Vick Best Bowie, Md.
