A few initial impressions. First, and most important, John McCain failed to make the most of this opportunity -- one of his last -- to fundamentally change the direction of this race. Nothing, and I mean nothing, occurred tonight that will put McCain back in the driver's seat of this campaign, let alone help him retake a lead.
Beyond that, McCain had some serious optics problems during the debate. McCain's lurking in the background was truly Cheney-esque, and that's just not a good likeness for the GOP nominee. And McCain's extreme derisiveness towards Barack Obama, unwilling to call him by name, instead only calling him "that one," seriously undercuts the notion that McCain can be a cool operator on the world stage. Note also that Obama's jokes did connect with the audience -- he got a nice chuckle towards the end of the debate when he said that Michelle could easily list all of the things he doesn't know -- while the only laugh McCain earned during all of his botched jokes over the course of the debate was from Tom Brokaw.
As for memorable exchanges, Obama speaking about his mother stands out in particular, though this retort to McCain, which Josh caught, was highly effective as well.
Again, a marginal win for Obama, or perhaps a draw -- either of which represents a loss for McCain considering that the window to change the direction of this race is closing. What did you think?
Update [2008-10-7 22:41:40 by Todd Beeton]:And McCain's most shameful moment of the debate:
Even Wolf Blitzer said it was obvious that John McCain has "disdain" for Barack Obama.
Update [2008-10-7 22:45:46 by Josh Orton]: From the Obama campaign:
“Barack Obama won a resounding victory in John McCain’s favorite debate format because he made the case for change that will rebuild the middle class. The American people asked tough questions tonight, and only Barack Obama was is in touch with their struggles and offered clear and passionate answers about creating jobs, reducing health care costs, cutting taxes for 95% of working families, and responsibly ending the war in Iraq. John McCain was all over the map on the issues, and he is so angry about the state of his campaign that he referred to Barack Obama as ‘that one’ – last time he couldn’t look at Senator Obama, this time he couldn’t say his name. The McCain campaign said, ‘if we keep talking about the economy, we’re going to lose,’ and John McCain definitely lost tonight,” said Obama-Biden campaign manager David Plouffe.
Update [2008-10-7 22:48:12 by Todd Beeton]:Rachel Maddow: "I think Barack Obama won by virtue of the fact that he conducted himself as though John McCain wasn;t there."
Update [2008-10-7 22:53:6 by Jonathan Singer]: Per Norah O'Donnell, Barack Obama won the NBC News undecided focus group about 60-40.
Update [2008-10-7 22:53:6 by Jonathan Singer]: Obama narrowly won the CNN undecided focus group as well.
Update [2008-10-7 22:59:17 by Jonathan Singer]: More actual results... CBS polling of undecided voters gave Obama the win by a 39 percent to 27 percent margin, with another 35 percent rating the debate a tie. Another wasted opportunity for the McCain campaign.
Update [2008-10-7 23:8:6 by Jonathan Singer]: GQR focus group of undecideds split 42 percent for Obama at the end versus 24 percent for McCain.
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