Last Debate for This Season, It Didn't Matter

Last night's debate was the best of the three. It felt that there was an actual bit of debate, rather than both sides giving purely stump speeches. It also helped that the moderator was an actually good one, budging in when the candidates ran too far from the question (something that happened way too much in the previous debates).

For McCain, this was his "last" shot. I put that in quotes since debates don't do all that much for campaigns.

Both sides did have their moments, but it seemed to me that McCain was not just more negative, but was unresponsive to Obama's responses. I don't know how many times he kept claiming Obama will raise small business taxes (and Plumber Joe was brought up far too often in the debate, by both sides). I don't think I even need to link to Factcheck on this one; Obama explained that point in the debate fairly accurately.

That's not to say that Obama was flawless here in terms of presenting the truth. Healthcare was the one topic that both sides attacked, giving misleading info on.

I think this round of debate could have been described as this: McCain was on the offensive (often giving political attacks), and Obama was on the defensive. This was different from the previous debates where both was on the defensive, trying not to flub up.

It probably didn't help McCain though. I just doubt he changed anyone's mind toward his side. If anything, probably the opposite direction, but only on the margins. Overall, the debates didn't do anything for the horserace, or show much of their actual political agenda that wasn't already in stump speeches.