The Guardian writes:

Bloggers are a resourceful bunch: they like nothing better than to "fact check (insert name of candidate or journalist)'s ass".

MIT Media Lab graduate student Cameron Marlow has done wonders with Perl to create a tool to help bloggers analyse transcripts of the presidential debates. Just plug in a well-worn phrase - say, "war on terror" - and up pops a phrase count (Bush 11, Kerry 7, for the record).

Marlow lists the candidates' top 25 phrases during the first Bush-Kerry clash, and repeats the exercise or last night's vice-presidential debate: Cheney's top three phases were Saddam Hussein (11), fact of the matter (10) and United States (10), while Edwards' were John Kerry (36), American people (28) and tax cuts (16).

In reply to Presidential Debate Analysis by BioGeek

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