And the winner was... JOE the Plumber!

Well, what did you expect? He got mentioned over two DOZEN times last night. That's crazy! There was also one "I've got a bracelet too..." moment in there when Obama said, "I want to talk to Joe too..." like Joe was hanging out on a conference call waiting to take their input. Classic.

I thought the start of the debate definitely favored Obama. McCain came out swinging, which is good, but you can't come out flailing, which is what it sounded like. The thing about landing political punches is that you shouldn't even try it if you can't do it in a smooth way. Don't try to change the subject of a question in order to beat up your opponent. Answer the question. If there is an opportunity in the question to bring up a flaw of your opponent, then point out it, but don't come out and start ignoring questions just to see if you can land a haymaker. It doesn't come across well. While McCain was swinging away, Obama was making some points in his suave fashion that definitely gave him the edge.

As the debate went on, McCain composed himself and started answering the questions and delivered some decent jabs. Unfortunately I think he missed several opportunities. If you are talking about taxes and your opponent has said over and over that he wants to raise taxes on businesses, then why don't you point out the fact that businesses don't pay taxes... their customers, employees, and shareholders do. Higher business taxes mean HIGHER PRICES, fewer jobs, and less investment. Point out the fact that EVERY time we lower income tax rates we INCREASE revenue to the federal government AND the whole economy goes UP. It's just a fact! The only time it doesn't have a direct correlation is when you have an economic down turn. Like right now. And in that case the WORST thing you can do is to raise taxes because it hurts already cash strapped businesses. McCain was ALMOST there on some of these points, but he really didn't complete the thought and draw the direct relationships for people. He tried with all of the references to Joe the Plumber, but he kept getting... almost... there... and then... would stop and go off on a rant. It was kind of frustrating. Obama also brought up his tax cut for 95% of working Americans. McCain could have pointed out that only 60% of Americans actually PAY individual income taxes. Basically there were several opportunities that McCain just didn't take advantage of, and that is irritating.

It shouldn't surprise me, but it did. There were several times I started talking to the TV last night in frustration at Obama's out right lies. Here are two examples. The first is the Bill Ayers issue. He said that it wasn't true that he started his political career in Ayer's living room. A total lie. That's were he announced he was running for the IL state senate seat, that's where he was endorsed by the incumbent and held a fundraiser, if that isn't a launch, then I don't know what is. The second was when he went on about the stance that he has taken on abortion. He said, "Yes, let me respond to this. If it sounds incredible that I would vote to withhold lifesaving treatment from an infant, that's because it's not true." It's absolutely true! I just wanted to scream LIAR!!!

On free trade, on abortion and the selection of judges, and especially in their closing remarks, I thought John McCain won. The first 20 minutes of the debate, I thought Obama seemed more presidential, and so I give him the edge on that.

In all I thought that Bob Schieffer did an excellent job. I like the format of the debate a lot better than the last one or even the first one. I like the fact that they did the split screen through a good portion of it (on CNN anyway, I'm not sure if all of the networks did that). I thought that Obama got a very condescending look when he disagreed with McCain and I thought McCain looked like the Cheshire cat when he thought he had something to get Obama on. But it was entertaining.

I HATED the fact that immigration wasn't brought up in ANY of the debates. I don't know if this was part of some pre-debate agreement between the two (since their views on this are relatively similar). But it is an important issue and the American people need to see where the candidates stand and they should have to defend that position.

In all I think this debate is a lot like the other two, although I think it was the best of the three. Basically there are no real memorable lines out of any of the debates and they will have no real impact on the election in the long run.

Kind of typical that way.