Do You Get Nervous Before The Debates?

[arwalden]

I'm not sure what's wrong with me... but I get butterflies and a queasy feeling before watching the debates. It reminds me of the sick/excited feeling I'd get before going on stage or any public speaking.

What's up with that? Sympathetic nerves?? Is there such a thing?

And if I'm feeling this way... does this mean that Kerry is feeling a bit anxious too?

-- Allen

[DemocratSinceBirth]

1. If I Did I Wouldn't Admit It

nt

[Langis]

2. I was very nervous last time

I am feeling really good about tonight though. I have a good feeling.

[Southsideirish]

3. Yes - its my trial in life to be overly empathetic - if you have a

problem and tell me about it - I have the problem, too. I am very nervous indeed, like I was going to give a speech or something. Total butterflies..

[elcondor]

10. LOL; I empathize with your

feeling empathetic . . . I feel the same way right now!

[Leilani]

18. I feel empathetic with both of you

& I am nervous too.

[cheshire]

4. Yes, I get nervous because it's important and so much is at stake. I do

think things are going great it's just my nature to worry.

[DemFromMem]

5. That's normal

If you're a sports fan and your team is playing in the Super Bowl or the World Series, you experience vicarious jitters. I'm really nervous about tonight. I think Kerry will do fine, but I find it hard to believe Bush could be worse tonight than last week and that everyone will say he won for not sounding like a babbling idiot. Kerry has to win decisively.

[LVdem]

6. Nervous before the debate?

OF course...its the future of our country at stake here.

Does Kerry? Probably a little, but he wouldn't be human if he didn't (there's probably a joke somewhere in here about preident knucklehead not getting nervous due to his lack of humanity, but that can wait).

Kerry will knock him down tonight.

[Lefta Dissenter]

9. WELCOME TO DU

SMF :hi:

and I'm not nearly as nervous for this one as I was last week. I KNOW Kerry will do just great, regardless of the quivering little pile of poo who will be sharing the stage with him.

[arwalden]

12. Welcome To DU!! I'm Honored That Your First Post Was In My Thread...

-- Allen

[mcar]

7. I've gotten very nervous before both debates

and I feel the same way right now. I felt that way before Kerry's speech at the DNC too.

[hippiegranny]

8. yes, I do

There is so much riding on this election. I have been on pins and needles for weeks now. I want it over, yet I'm apprehensive because I don't feel that we can completely trust the process anymore. I believe with everything I've got that Kerry has more support, but will the voices be heard? That is why the REPORTING about the debates is so crucial, and that the perception be that K/E are on a roll.

[kymar57]

Naw, no nerves

More like the feeling I get when the local team is going into a game as the odds on favorite in the playoffs. Call it restless anticipation.

[Nevernose]

11. Oh, so THAT explains why I'm drinking!

And I get the feeling that Kerry is swallowing his nervousness fairly well. If he didn't have at least a little bit of nervousness, he would appear totally wooden and unenthusiastic.

[4_Legs_Good]

13. Are you kidding? My head is about to explode...

Politics whips me into a frenzy, especially when it's beyond anything I can control.

1 hour 45 minutes to go.

Geesh!

david

[ClassWarrior]

14. I'm fine until about a minute before the debate...

...then my heart drops into my stomache. Then I'm fine again.

I can relate, Allen.

23.

[wildeyed]

15. I get that, too.

I am overly involved with this entire election, not just the debates. I try to be tough and just do my part and then get on with life. But I end up walking around with my stomach in knots far more than is healthy. I am considering a news and politics break for over the weekend. I may even skip the debate tonight. I need to get rested up for the big GOTV push.

[Cha]

16. Before, during, and after!

I was nervous yesterday when John And Elizabeth went on "The View"..

I wasn't nervous for Regis and Kelly ..so it must have been that one repug female I heard about on The View..

They did fantasic, though..made it look so easy to sit in the middle of a bunch of crackling hens..Sorry, Star and Joy!

[arwalden]

22. Egads... Crackling Hens Indeed!!!

[KoKo]

17. No! I go out in my garage and look for loose nails, screws and "bits" to

chew on while I wait. Then...I spit 'em all out when the "Big Event" occurs....That takes out alot of agressions. One can also..."sort socks" from one's laundry and count out the "mis-matches" to pass the time?

Whatever,,,,,,,,

[girl gone mad]

19. I'm nervous.

About to drink a beer to try and calm down a bit.

I've performed as a concert pianist, but I don't remember being this nervous then. Maybe it has to do with being helpless to control what happens? Sort of like people who are afraid to fly on airplanes even though driving is more dangerous..

I don't know.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

20. No. I have a lot of faith in Kerry...too many years of watching him

in senate hearings...

[4_Legs_Good]

25. Ahh hearing this is so reassuring...

Thanks!

david

[0007]

26. Right on!

[Chichiri]

21. 1 hour, 40 minutes . . .

. . . and I'm about ready to faint. My mind knows, as a matter of factual information, that Kerry will in all probability drop-kick Bush into next January -- but too much is at stake for me NOT to be nervous.

[grace0418]

23. I was nauseous before the last debate

today I'm just nervous.

I'm going to a debate watching party and to keep myself calm I think about it like I'm going to watch the Oscars or the Superbowl (except that I wouldn't be into watching the Superbowl but you get my drift). But then every once in awhile it hits me that our country is at stake here, not some best actress award or a superbowl ring. Then I get freaked again.

John, my boy, you gotta have your game face on tonight! We're all here pulling for you! Don't listen to the crap Dumbya's going to pull. You know the truth, you know right from wrong, and you know how to win. Now go out there and DO IT!

[Generic Other]

24. It's not like I have to debate myself, so why do I feel like that?

Must be like what a prizefighter's manager thinks as he watches the champ slugging it out.

[Guaranteed]

27. Of course...just remember that Kerry's a pro, though.

Kerry's been doing this all his life. Nobody at his age has more experience than him. Don't worry too much. ;)

[RafterMan]

28. I've been in a growing frenzy

since Wednesday.

You're "not sure what's wrong with" you? What? The future of the world is at stake. I wish it was hyperbole, but it isn't.

I think it's perfectly reasonable to get nervous.

[OKNancy]

29. Butterflies

from just reading your post. It's that " my stomach turns over" feeling when I think about it.

[geniph]

30. Right up until the first time they showed Chimpy on the split-screen

after that, I was guffawing too hard to fret! The whole audience at the machinists' hall in Seattle was roaring.

[tishaLA]

31. Yeah. I get nervous that my country is in the shitter

and reelcting george will make it worse.

[4_Legs_Good]

33. amen!!

[VOX]

32. Yes! A "contact" stage fright. Last Tues., when I saw Edward's back...

he was making notes on the legal pad, seated there with Cheney, just moments before they went on -- I had butterflies to spare! I thought that Edwards had to go 90 minutes under this extreme stress --how can a human being even do that (this immediately eliminates Cheney)?

Add onto that all that's at stake, and I'm a basket case! :scared:

[Reciprocity]

34. Hell yes!

The last Kerry debate I mostly listened to it while I was on DU.

[skjpm]

35. Yes.

I have a lot as stake.

[NoBorders]

36. heck yes, w/ all that is at stake

i worry about the slightest thing going wrong. less nervous than last debate though, in a way.

[-democratic-lady-]

37. Yes

I was very nervous before the last debate and now I'm a little less nervous. After seeing Kerry looking so Presidential last week, I know he can pull it off... but it doesn't make the waiting any easier.

[calimary]

38. Horribly, Allen.

Nervous wreck-time. I get so wierded-out at times like these. I'm one of those who doesn't want to watch baseball games and such that really count - for fear I'll jinx it. But I watched the last two debates, taking notes furiously the whole time. And I made sure my fingernails are acrylic - unbite-able, even for me!

[ibegurpard]

58. HA! Glad to see I'm not the only superstitious person who thinks

I'll jinx an event when the outcome is really important to me if I pay too close attention to it.

[ogradda]

39. i get the same symptoms

i was worse at the edwards-cheney debate tho - edwards gets a big thumbs up just for being in the same room as cheney and not babbling as far as i'm concerned that is one SPOOKY dude:scared:

[ibegurpard]

40. absolutely

I don't watch them until they are rebroadcast and I've gotten an idea as to how it went. I can't take it.

[shivaji]

44. Nothing compared to how nervous I will be on

election night! I know Kerry is a seasoned debater,
and I am not nervous with just 45 minutes to go.
But on election night, there is no time left to
correct or recover from boo-boo's and therefore
I will need 2 or 3 of my favorite drinks.

In case you are wondering, it will be minute-maid
lemonade with generous amounts of Tanquery gin and
dash of fresh ginger.

[Cha]

53. You're funny! I got shelled shocked from

Gore's debate with the bushmonkey..and I haven't been the same with "debates", since!

I can really relate to what you said..

[snowbear]

41. Nervous Wreck

I was really worried when the first one began, but about 20 minutes into it when Bush was babbling senselessly, I knew we had it in the bag (everyone here did)..

I just want to see Bush get a question tonight he either can't answer, or screws up so badly on that's all we hear about for the next two weeks..

:bounce:

[GalleryGod]

42. Awful! I'm a Bundle of Nerves!

I guess if I wrote what I'd really:evilgrin: and truly like to happen to MSNBC's "AfterHours":nuke: set I would be arrested.

[Dr Fate]

43. No doubt. Pacing, drinking & smoking.

And about to cook up some huge 1/2 pound blue cheeseburgers!!!

[w4rma]

45. I'm nervous as heck. Sen. Kerry is charging into an ambush and knows it.

He (and I think most of us, also) knows that the only way he can fight them is if he turns his boat into their ambush and fights them on their own terms using their own rules. The enemy has near total control over everything about this debate except Sen. Kerry himself. I do not like the fact that our guys have such little control over just about anything associated with this debate.

I'm just hoping that our team has been able to do enough to prevent the traps they are trying to set from being set or from being sprung.

[AlinPA]

51. The media is the enemy in the pillbox with mortar and machine guns.

[marigold20]

46. Oh yeah

I'm trying some Bailey's to calm my nerves.

[dviper]

47. I'm totally with you and I usually cannot watch....

[Nay]

48. I am always a wreck. I don't know why exactly, but it's probably

because I see this election as a watershed for the country and I so desperately want the Dems to win. I don't want to watch Kerry errors, if there are any. I have to say, though, I truly enjoyed the last debate because Bush was such an ASS. I really didn't think he would act that moronic. It was beyond my wildest dreams.

Nevertheless, I am still nervous about tonight and go back and forth about even watching. I may do what I did last time -- be on here and watch/listen to the TV -- and enjoy it that way.

[Pax Argent]

49. Let's see.

Light-headed - Check
Queasy - Check
Headache - Check
Heart Flutters - Oh yeah
Butterflies - Got 'em

Other folks on this thread have pegged it. A lot of us are emotionally tied to this election. I dusted the hell out of my entertainment center during the VP debate due to excess nervous energy.

I've been less nervous addressing directors' meetings at work. There's a lot riding on this election.

[diplomats]

50. Yes, I'm a Nervous Wreck!

I told my husband this morning that I was nervous about tonight and he said, "Why would you be nervous? Bush can't even string two coherent sentences together."

How come we know that and so many people don't? Sigh.....

I'm afraid that the expectations for Bush are be so low that as long as he doesn't make any obvious gaffes, the talking heads would say he won. :grr:

[The River]

52. Fist-fight Nerves...

or firefight if you like. Right before a fight
you do have an excess of nervous energy (fight or flight syndrome).
Once the fight is underway, all that energy
is unleashed on your opponent. When Kerry starts
landing the verbal punches * will fold like a cheap
card table or he will blow up and start throwing wild punches.
Either way; game, set and match.
(sorry for mixing sports metaphors)

[Demi_Babe]

54. yeeeesssssssssssssssssssssssssss

[keyzersoze13]

55. Yeah

I did last week, and I am again now.

[budkin]

56. Hell yeah

I agree with a previous poster. So much is at stake here. I have to go for a run before the debates to release some nerves and get hyped up. Just got back and ready to watch this thing!

[Ladyhawk]

57. I feel this way and I can't even watch!!!!

So far, I've had a good success rate overcoming the feeling when I'm about to perform in public--I'm an alto soloist--but there's something really unnerving about this election cycle. GULP!

[fujiyama]

59. I am nervous

I would assume Kerry is also a bit nervous, but I also assume he is confident he can do a hell of a job. He knows how important it is to keep the momentum he has.

I was sort of bummed out before the last debates. I figured that whatever Bush did he'd be called a winner and I was really worried that he wouldn't lose the lead he had prior to it. I decided not to even watch it live and caught it on TV later. I was very impressed with Kerry's perfomance.

Instead Kerry came off as very calm and confident and Bush made a fool of himself.

[AbbeyRoad]

60. unequivocally yes

I feel like I'm going to vomit.

[jab105]

61. very queasy...

n/t