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.

My Quick Take on the Veep Debate

In general, I thought tonight's vice presidential debate between Palin and Biden was terrible and hard to watch. Moderator Gwen Ifill let each candidate get away with regurgitating and rehashing campaign talking points rather than answer the questions.  I wasn't that impressed with the questions, either.   The biggest issue facing the country is the problems on Wall Street and the proposed bail out, but that issue only got 10 to 15 minutes out of an hour and a half.

Palin did very well in the beginning when she was more clipped and direct.   In the second half of the debate she got way too wordy and cliched, spouting more and more talking points.  The snarkiness also came back.

Biden looked tentative early, but found his stride when he talked about Bush and the last eight years.  He wasn't as strong going after McCain.  However, as it was in the first presidential debate, Biden's best moment was when he criticized McCain for repeatedly being wrong on Iraq.  

The focus on Bush and the last eight years must have worked.  From the early polls, Biden was rated the 'winner' of the debate 51% to 39%.   Many of the pundits - namely Brokaw and Peggy Noonan - said Palin won it.  I thought it was a tie. 

But perhaps the snap poll giving the debate to Biden is a reminder of the two primary issues of this election: the war and the economy.  On the war, Biden strongly stated: we will end this war; for all the 'surge is working' talk, the public still opposes the war in Iraq.  And the economy clearly favors the Dems.  Those issues have moved the polls for Obama in the last two weeks, and appear to have given Biden the win tonight. 

Quick Baseball Blog

How about the Dodgers?  I warned about Lowe and Billingsley, and they have been as good as advertised the last two nights.

No surprises in Philly; ditto for today's win by the Rays.

Got to give it up for the BoSox too.  They looked methodical in stealing the Angels' lunch money last night.