Barack "Cool And Collected" Obama Vs. John "McCrabby" McCain

Last night the esteemed Hofstra University in Hempstead, NY had the two Presidential candidates spar at their campus. The format allowed for them to ask questions and brought out a highly interactive format. It was also great for McCain because they were sitting and no one had to endure his "townhall" pacing. They both put on great performances (in different respects) but ultimately only came out the winner. John McCain could hit Obama with as many cheap shots as he wanted to but Obama's responses only made him look more Presidential.

First off, the other man in the room besides Schieffer was obviously Joe "The Plumber" Wurzelbacher. He was made out to be an undecided voter due to the question he asked Obama (see one post below) about his plumbing business. The networks swarmed to him afterwards and as we listened to his one and half cents, it was clear that Joe leaned to the right and heavily to the racist.

With all of the different issues addressed no one scored any knockout blows and for Obama, that gave him the victory because he already has the momentum (and 50%+ approval ratings). Ultimately, as TPM says, this things is over. With nineteen days to go, McCain is running short of precious time to sway the voters that he can change the country and all they are seeing is another George Bush (note that McCain tried to combat that in the debate).

The key to the debate wasn't so much the issues. We already know by and large what the candidates stand for, despite McCain's hemming and hawing on everything under the sun. What truly mattered last night was each man's temperment. Barack Obama set out to show that McCain is a mean, nasty old man and John's myriad facial expressions certainly made the case. With every attack on Obama, Barack seemed to shrug each one off with a laugh and delivered his answers to the American people and not back in John's face (for the most part of course, no one is perfect).

One thing I'd like to note is that if you watched it on CNN, the men and women were certainly skewed in different directions. Men favored McCain's responses and women were in Obama's corner. No other time showed that so clearly like when McCain mocked the fact that the health of the mother matters when discussing pro-abortion rights. That was just sick and you could see women dialing McCain down for the callous remark.

So as Colin Powell comes out for Obama shortly and the rest of the nation solidifies their choice in under three weeks, McCain must be getting more and more nervous. Not even the remaining pundits in his corner will save him, especially with the use of snap polls that kill the opportunity to insert media narratives worth less than a certificate of stock from Lehman Bros. With so few days left in the campaign, he is running out of wings and prayers because his ideas and his recent lack of character isn't going to get him back in this race.