Midnight Debate Confessions
Posted: Wednesday, October 08, 2008 1:48 AM by Chuck Todd
From NBC's Chuck ToddPart three of the four-part debate series is now over and the one big conclusion is that nothing's changed in the race. And nothing changing is not a good result for John McCain.
In need of a trajectory changer (I'm trying not to use the word "game"), McCain didn't get it. This now puts pressure on McCain to make the most of the final debate next week.
Of course, McCain might have lost the night before the debate ever started. At 4pm Tuesday when the final curtain fell on another horrible day on Wall Street, it signaled that the audience tonight would be focused on just one issue, the economy.
As for the actual encounter, a few things stood out.
Obama started out strong and was surprisingly aggressive with McCain. I don't know that he missed an opportunity in the first 40 minutes of the debate to attack McCain. And, yet, despite the attacks by Obama, McCain may end up being viewed as the more negative candidate since he sounded so defensive early on and he had the awkward "that one" moment. Obama was also more attuned to the format, constantly framing his answers for average or regular voters.
To McCain's credit, he got stronger in the second half and really found his groove during the foreign policy portion of the encounter. If this debate had gone another half hour, it would have done McCain some good. He was just getting warmed up.
I thought McCain's strongest moment came during the Russia question which also coincidentally was Obama's weakest. Obama doesn't have a good Russia answer just yet.
Obama's best moment was on health care which, in turn, was McCain's weak moment. This health care attack that Obama has opened up on McCain is potentially lethal with swing women voters.
McCain's difficulty connecting on the economy probably explains why Obama scored better in the post debate polls and focus groups.
Finally, I'm finding the debate about body language fascinating tonight. It appeared to me Obama, like in the first debate, was more camera aware during his non-speaking time than McCain. Considering the format and the fact that close watchers of this debate won't have heard anything new from the candidates, the body language portion of the confrontation might be more influential to some viewers. I'm wondering if some Obama campaign strategists are regretting their decision to not agree to some joint town halls with McCain sooner.
Bottom line: it was great to see the candidates out from behind the podiums. It created a lively exchange even as it came across at times as repetitive.
