The candidates went out with grace in last night’s final presidential debate. McCain pulled himself together after his meandering, unsure performance last week and Obama kept his cool. Meanwhile, Joe the Plumber lost none of his usual candor and confidence in his first appearance in front of a national TV audience. There ya go, Joe, doggonit! I mean, wait. Who’s Joe?

Joe the Plumber (possibly related to Joe Six-Pack) left the debate looking good – or at least looking important. Whoever this guy is, the candidates sure care a lot about him.

Joe began to take the stage when the debate turned to finicky economic issues - in other words, are these cranky, vote-grubbing politicians actually going to do anything for us, the average American citizen who plans on buying their own business?

Obama’s run-in with Joe bit him in the butt when McCain called him out on his tax proposals; previously, whenever McCain or Palin tried to bust the Democratic candidates on taxes, they had a strong parry: “95% of Americans won’t see a dollar of raised taxes.” Joe the Plumber gave McCain some ammo - here, some dude who just wants to pursue the American dream will, in fact, be affected by the Obama tax plan. Read More »

Last night, in Nashville, Tennessee, the candidates in what could be one of the most important presidential elections ever clashed for the second time. And there was passion, there were bold, firm statements of position, there were explosive accusations, and at one point McCain and Obama got into a light-saber fight.

Man. I wish. Actually, the second presidential debate was pretty boring, especially compared to the mud-fight we got when Palin and Biden duked it out. So what happened last night? The candidates mostly stuck to the same guns they’ve been waving all election: McCain pounding home his foreign policy experience (and his opponent’s lack thereof) and Obama preferring to stick to what many see as a more “in-touch” attitude on domestic concerns. Lots of stump speech sound bites were recycled, and, as usual, there wasn’t that much actual debate.

McCain started the night in a rougher place than before, as the flailing economy and sliding poll numbers gave the Republican senator plenty of ground to catch up on.

It wasn’t a problem for him overall, though; he managed to fight Obama to a standstill on most issues, (including the economy, and it’s hard going being a Republican on the economy today), and nobody blew themselves out of the water with embarrassing gaffes. Nothing last night is going to change the dynamic of the race, though, and that’s not terribly good news for McCain.

Some particularly good (or bad) moments for each candidate: Read More »