Instant analysis isn't too good. My rule of thumb is that no one really knows what went on for a few days (that's usually for crime stories, but I think it applies here, too.)

Woo Hoo! No misspellings.

Thus far, CNN seems to be the only network using the technique.

MSNBC uses them, though not concurrently with the debate. Nora O'Donnell comes on with some after-debate commentary showing the reactions of a focus group during the debate. Doesn't have nearly the impact of the CNN use.

Their use does, however, remind me of a story I read in Pauline Kael's Raising Kane. Herman Mankiewitz, one of the screen writers on Citizen Kane, was well-known for his wit (and drinking). One night he was at a dinner party hosted by Harry Cohn, the tyrannical head of Columbia Pictures. Herman was in his cups when a young woman asked Cohn what he thought of a script that had been submitted recently. "I didn't like it," Cohn said. "It made my ass twitch, and if it makes my ass twitch, it's no good." Mankiewitz turned to one of his dinner partners and said in voice everyone could hear, "Imagine that, the whole world wired to Harry Cohn's ass." Needless to say, Herman was never invited to another of Harry's parties.

They sound sort of gimmicky to me anyway, but then I think undecided voter groups are gimmicky as well.