Obama vs. McCain: What they said at their last debate

Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain met for their third and final debate on Wednesday night at Hofstra University in Hempstead, N.Y. CNN has the transcript; I took what was said by each candidate and, using Wordle, created word clouds. The clouds represent the 150 most frequently used words; the larger the word, the more often it was said.

Barack Obama

Obama said “going” 57 times (it has been his most dominant word at each debate), “think” 56 times, “now” and “make” 38 times each, and “senator” 36 times.

John McCain

McCain said “senator” 57 times (it was the most dominant word at the first debate, and came in second at the second debate), “Obama” 49 times, “America” 34 times, “need” 32 times and “going” 29 times.

There was a lot of talk about a plumber named Joe. McCain said “Joe” 21 times (it’s below “senator” in his word cloud) and “Joe’s” twice; he said “plumber” eight times and “Biden” (the other Joe) twice. Obama said “Joe” nine times; he said “plumber” three times, “Biden” twice and “Biden’s” once.

Take a look at clouds from the first and second debate. Vice presidential candidates Joe Biden and Sarah Palin had one debate.

Since we’re talking about politics, take a look at newspaper endorsements across the country.

Thanks again to everyone who stopped by and shared President Bingo. More political debate cards will be coming.