2nd Debate Stays Free of Mudslinging

Many people were expecting fireworks in the town hall debate between Barack Obama and John McCain Tuesday night.

The days leading up to the debate were riddled with McCain and his running mate, Sarah Palin, attacking Obama on his relationship with William Ayers, a leader of the radical Weather Underground movement in the 1960's, who planned and carried out bombings of such buildings as the Capitol and the Pentagon.

"Who is the real Barack Obama?" is the question McCain and Palin had been asking voters in town hall meetings across the country in the week before the debate. McCain had promised that he would take it to Obama at the debate on Tuesday. But Ayers was not mentioned by McCain, moderator Tom Brokaw, or any of the uncommitted voters asking the candidates question in the audience. So much for sticking it to Obama.

In response to the McCain campaign's attacks on Ayers, the Obama campaign had brought up McCain's Keating Five scandal in the '80s. But since Ayers was not brought up, and the debate remained focused on the issues, and Keating did not come up either.

The second debate was very similar to the first, and the candidates outlined their differences on many issues, especially on the economy and health care. McCain mentioned in passing about a plan of his to buy up bad mortgages, which sounded really interesting, but he didn't elaborate on it. Uncommitted voters are hungry for new ideas about the economy, and this sounded promising, but he missed a good opportunity to explain it.

Another interesting part of the debate was when Tom Brokaw pointed out that the Treasury Secretary has now become the most powerful member of the cabinet, and he asked the candidates who they would appoint to the job. McCain mentioned Meg Whitman, the former CEO of eBay--which actually just had a massive layoff the day before the debate--and Obama mentioned Warren Buffet--who just invested billions of dollars into GE in light of the economic crisis.

Throughout the debate, Obama slammed McCain on his lifetime position of deregulation and how it changed as soon as the economy began to crumble and it was no longer politically expedient to hold that position. McCain kept bringing up bipartisanship and getting rid of earmarks. Same old, same old.

There were a few really bizarre moments in the debate, like when McCain referred to Obama as "that one," as he pointed to him. I'm not sure if it was condescending, spawned out of anger or frustration, or what (some even called it racially fueled, but that's ridiculous--McCain is many things, but a racist is not one of them). McCain also kept wandering around the floor rather awkwardly, often blocking the camera's shots.

At one point early on in the debate, when someone in the audience asked about the mortgage crisis, McCain told the man that he had probably never even heard of Fannie Mae of Freddie Mac before the crisis. That rubbed me the wrong way, and struck me as a bit condescending.

Also, his age (a.k.a. oldness) was more noticeable, mainly in his demeanor and the way he spoke. He also forgot the names of some of the uncommitted voters in the audience who were asking him questions. He also averaged about three "my friends" per answer. In contrast, Obama again was sharp, crisp, and personable yet again.

The bottom line was that McCain needed a game changer going in, and once again--even though he didn't make any major gaffes--that didn't happen. The foreign policy debate was supposed to play to his experience and expertise on the subject, yet voters thought Obama won that debate.

And the town hall style this time was supposed to be a major asset to McCain, because this is supposedly what he is most comfortable with. But according to the polls taken directly after the debate, voters thought Obama won this one too.

A CBS poll of 516 uncommitted voters taken just after the debate showed that 40% thought that Obama won and 26% said McCain won. CNN also ran a poll of 675 adults and also concluded that Obama won. Here 54% said Obama performed better and 30% said McCain did.

So McCain missed another opportunity. He continues to trail in the polls, usually by a range of 5-7% nationally and is behind in almost all of the battleground states and is having to fight hard for states that should be in the bag for him such as North Carolina, Missouri, Indiana, and even Georgia according to recent polls.

McCain really has only one chance to take a stand and turn this thing around, and that is at the last presidential debate on Wednesday, which, unfortunately for him, is about the economy. He needs to go for the jugular.

He needs to hammer Obama on Ayers, Rezko, and maybe even Rev. Wright (the latter of which he called "off-limits"). McCain can no longer win this election based on the issues. He needs to continue to attack Obama's character and scare the American people away from Obama for him to have a fighting chance. I'm not saying that's what I want to see--I would much rather see them talking about the issues--but if I were Rick Davis (McCain's campaign manger), that's what I'd be telling McCain.