Alan Alda has been nothing short of absolutely aggravating since Mash.....unquestionably one of the most pedantic actors out there ( and that is saying something). The fact is , however, he won the debate hands down. The live performance clearly revealed him more adept than Smits. The show will suffer with either one of them winning. Tell NBC to remove Santos and have Leo win. Can you imagine listening to a whining Alda for an entire season!

Liberal is not a dirty word even though Nixon, Reagan, Bush and Bush would make you think it is and their mouth pieces Limbaugh and O'Reilly. If it were not for Liberals Washington, Jefferson, Adams there would be no America. The conservatives were Torries loyal to the crown. Liberals ended slavery, started social security, Meidcaid and Medicare. Gave the vote to the disenfrancised (women, blacks, asians, and hispanics). Clean air and water, safer work place child labor broke up monopolies. If left unchecked big business will grind the worker into the dirt in the name of profit. Business never gave anyone a job they pay as little as they can and hire as few people as they can get away with. So don't kid yourself business does not create anymore jobs than they have too. They take as much and give as little as they can and they have no loyality to America just profit.

Super job of presenting political views via a T.V. Show. Since our real represenatives and politicians won't even approach some of these subjects, this is a great way to get the word out for America. This was done in good taste with each candidate presenting factual subjects and leaving the viewer to ponder the questions in a bipartesan way. Keep up the good work and hopefully this will make our real candidates think about what really counts.

I thought the show reflected much of what is so great about the West Wing. The politics! The main theme of the show is to not discredit the American population as being dumb and enjoying shows like Jackass and Two and a Half men, Everybody Loves Raymond, but the West Wing is a show that stimulates the American intellecutal side. The side in all of us that yearns to express opinions, ideas and try to make America a better place. The debate was a great idea and well executed. If this does not convince the damn NBC execs to continue the show and put more money in this show, I don't know what will. This show should be praised for not only holding drama for television but being intellecutally stimulating and thought provoking. The ideas on Africa is something I don't here other politicans talk about. Medicare a hot topic issue we heard actually ideas and reasons why people avoid it. War on Iraq. Questions were answered, debated. This show deserves to be Nbc headline, not ER which is overtly dramatic. Shit, how much can happen at a hospital! Mac P.S. Santos Liberal comments. Loving it!

No matter who you thought won or lost, the writers and producers of TWW can now say "Gotcha" twice. First, they got intelligent, fair-minded Americans to actually watch a television show about politics and the workings of the Presidency. Last night, they got us all again. We watched and we listened...to a political debate about relevant issues. We cared about facts. We watched every nuanace of who was the best communicator. We truly tried to pick the most qualified candidate to be President. Were we so enraptured with Bush-Kerry? Bush-Gore? My opinions...most already expressed...Vinick won the debate by stealing extra air time and offering (mostly) compelling arguments. Alda is who he is as an actor whether he's Hawkeye Pierce, Joe Tynan or Vinick, he's just damn good. Smits is also very good. I don't think his occasional hesitance or lack of poise was poor acting. Santos' style isn't boisterous, just extremely confident and sincere. The writers and performers definitely achieved the suspension of disbelief (until the bills had to be paid). Thank you American Express for paying a little extra for the whole show. Only one thing really bugged me about the show..and that was the NBC News "bug". A little too "War of the Worlds-ish"...even doing a CNBC or MSNBC bug would have been a little less disconcerting.

By the way, Head Start does work, and the Santos character's responses were absolutely correct. Most of the "scientific" studies saying otherwise are biased by political ideology.

If you are a political junkie, and I am, then this was one hell of a show. Granted, there were moments when I thought the "outbursts" were overly scripted, but overall it was a good effort. Kudos to NBC for giving a "live debate" feel to the show (and yes, Forrest Sawyer deserves and Emmy for a fine performance). I know the show was written by a former Democratic strategist, but I though Alda's Vinick got the majority of the better lines. His responses sounded so much more thought out than Santos' overly emotional responses. Maybe that was in keeping with the established characters. If this was a real debate, I think the Repoublican candidate would see a major bump in the polls. On a another note, what's up with the opening credits? Why is it that some people who don't even appear in the show are listed and others are not. Kristen Chenoweth, John Spencer, and Bradley Whitford were nowhere to be seen, but all were in the opening credits; however, Richard Schiff and Janel Maloney didn't appear. It's wierd.

I found it necessary to restrain myself from scraping my eyes with a cheese grater and hammering an awl into my brain through my ear. It was painfully obvious that there were two actors, not only acting, but stage acting, as opposed to television or movie acting. In other words, they were aware of "the fourth wall" (an acting term)and their "picking up cues" was maddening. Jimmy Smits was intimidated by the "one take" format and poor Forrest Sawyer had to act on his shouted "Senator!" during a heated exchange. Alda is a great actor and won the "acting debate" and despite that I am a moderate/liberal and have voted for the Democrat in 9 presidential elections elections, and never voted for a Republican, Vinick won the debate "debate". While I did not agree with a lot of the Vinick positions, it would be truly scary to see a Republican with a sensible appoach to issues. (That's how we know it's fiction.) What a disappointment. O'Donell took an intriguing concept of a real debate and it was botched. Way too many stereotypical answers, Vinick stealing Clinton's 2004 convention quote about Democrats and Republicans with patriotic but differing visions of America... the list goes on. Now only if Sorkin... ah, what's the point.

I don't know about the east coast feed but Alda was the better "live" actor for the west coast. AND I thought Vinick won the debate - although it was definitely close. More importantly, how about this idea: If the producers really haven't decided who will win the "election" how about letting viewers vote? Wouldn't it be sweet to be able to vote for a fictional president? Somebody should call John Wells . . .

I don't know about the east coast feed but Alda was the better "live" actor for the west coast. AND I thought Vinick won the debate - although it was definitely close. More importantly, how about this idea: If the producers really haven't decided who will win the "election" how about letting viewers vote? Wouldn't it be sweet to be able to vote for a fictional president? Somebody should call John Wells . . .