Final Presidential Debate

Andrew Sullivan of The Atlantic offers a summary of response to last night's final Presidential debate. My favorite comes from Jonathan Chait:

McCain lost the overall message of the debate. The cost of McCain's sharper tone was that he sounded more like a dogmatic Republican. Obama was softer, let many points go, but was much more effective at sounding like a moderate.

After eight years of radical right-wing policies that have largely failed, the electorate seems to hunger for a fundamentally different approach. While both candidates claim to offer this, Obama comes off as thoughtful, coherent and calm while McCain attacks angrily and offers no thematic argument of his own. The insta-polls again reflect this contrast.

CBS: Obama 53%, McCain 22%
CNN: Obama 58%, McCain 31%

--Ballard Burgher