Clear winner in the third debate

I thought Obama won the most recent debate, going away. Obama was solid - no big whoop - and did not make any mistakes, sounded and looked presidential and perhaps most importantly, took my advice from a few blogs back (Friday, October 7th, to be exact). 

McCain, on the other hand, was terrible. Even before the Joe the Plumber story started to unravel in yesterday's news cycle, his performance was horrible. He was angry, dismissive, petty - simply not very presidential. Whereas Obama has effectively used each debate to reassure swing voters that he is up to the challenge of being president, McCain's performances - and his selection of Sarah Palin - has driven swings and independents away in droves.

That is one theme of this election: swing voters have consistently reacted as expected, preferring the practical, anti-war, and not-too-ideological Democratic ticket over the ideological, evangelical Republican one.

Finally, Bob Scheiffer's question about the vice-presidential nominees, and the responses, tell the story of this campaign in a nutshell: Obama was a gentleman in discussing Palin and not take any cheap shots. Conversely, McCain acted like a complete asshole in talking about Biden. The swings responded to Obama's approach, not McCain's, in the last debate and will likely do the same on November 4th.