I know I'm going to get roasted for saying this, but....up to this point, I think the forum at the Saddleback Church hosted by Pastor Rick Warren is undoubtedly given the American voter the best inside look at who the candidates are as individuals. These debates that we've seen after that point are all talking points. Just like tonight. I thought the town hall forum was supposed to be question by real people, not cherry-picked political talking point questions that we would hear from other journalist like we saw tonight.
On to tonight's debate. I think Barack Obama proved himself to be like one of the guys that I work with...someone we call the "Teflon Man"...meaning nothing stuck to him, even when the evidence points directly to him. Now, in all fairness to Sen. Obama, it wasn't his job to go out and throw punches tonight (though I think he had a couple of nice hay-makers in there). He just needed to duck and dodge, and that's just what he did. John McCain threw some serious shots tonight. None of them really stuck tonight, but they're going to be playing these shots over the next couple of weeks like a gift that just keeps on giving. He did establish some differences between the two of them. Whether or not people pick up on those differences is the biggest question in my mind.
I would give the edge to McCain for the same reason that folks say Sen. Biden beat Gov. Palin, which was on substance and at a minimum, the appearance of delivering facts. The fact-checkers were given quite a bit of information to follow up on from Sen. McCain.
I truly thought McCain did a better job of distinguishing the difference between the two candidates, which is something I think the undecided voters need to see.
