Amid the turmoil that is the American economy, and an increasingly convoluted dynamics of this election season, tonight will present a double-dip of fun and excitement for the debate watch junkies of the world.  In addition to Round Two of McCain/Obama, the candidates for the 2nd Congressional District, U.S. Rep Joe Courtney and Republican challenger Sean Sullivan, will spar at the Garde Arts Theater in New London at 7:00pm. 

The Norwich Bulletin’s Ray Hackett summed up Sullivan’s chances in the 2nd this way on Monday:

But in both of those cases, the undecided are in the high double digits. Twenty-nine percent said they weren’t sure who would do a better job, and 23 percent had no opinion on Courtney’s job performance.

That’s an opening for Sullivan to capitalize on — if he can.

The 2nd District is notorious for producing nail-biters, and if Sullivan can put together a few strong debates over the next few weeks and continue to get his message out into the district, he could really sneak up on Courtney.

In regard to Senators McCain and Obama, if there are great truths left in the race, they may have been most apparent this morning at the Middletown Adult Education Candidates Forum.  An incredibly diverse crowd of more than 100 adult education students listened to Chairman Chris Healy and Democrat State Rep. candidate Matt Lesser represent their Presidential candidate for about an hour.  The two hit all the major issue points - from taxes, the environment, and foreign aid to energy issues and health care. 

Listening to the buzz amongst the students both during and after the forum, it was clear that people were very split – surprisingly so – on the candidates.  If John McCain and Barack Obama can split 100 adult education students in Middletown, Connecticut, both candidates are in for a long Election Night.  Lord knows it would be nothing new for the folks in the 2nd Congressional District.