Final Debate is Another Draw

Once again, it appears that Barack Obama won by not losing. He looked credible, he looked calm and cool. He ably deflected almost everything McCain sent his way. This will probably play well with people that aren't sure about voting for him because of his lack of experience.

McCain, on the other hand, came out a little feisty, showed a little passion, and was constantly on the attack against Obama. This might play well with people who are really angry about the economy, angry about government, and want the next President to really empathize with them. Obama claims to empathize, but McCain finally looked like he got it.

If this had been the first debate instead of the last, McCain might be ahead in the polls right now.

McCain also seemed to set himself up for the final two and a half weeks by invoking Joe the Plumber - a man who wants to buy the plumbing business he has been working for, but will face such higher taxes under Obama that it won't be cost-effective. Most people don't think an average plumber is "rich" and by Obama telling Joe that he makes so much money he needs to spread the wealth around to help out other plumbers like him isn't going to go over well with the electorate. McCain needs to continue to hammer the point in the next 19 days.

McCain still let Obama get away with a lot - for example that 95% of Americans would see a tax cut when 40% of Americans don't pay income tax. McCain really needed to respond to that ridiculous claim and he still let it go.

McCain also needed to have some facts to parry Obama's outright lies. Now, the fact that Obama can stare into the camera and tell a bald-faced lie with such aplomb (and in such a way that most Americans will believe him) is probably going to get him elected. McCain needed to be ready for some of these lies by specifically answering with facts.

For example, when Obama made the outrageous charge that Fox News disputed that Obama had voted to raise taxes on people making $42,000 - McCain could have pointed out that the Associated Press and factcheck.org both admitted that Obama had done such a thing. The dispute was instead over whether Obama had voted to raise taxes on families making $42,000 - McCain had claimed that in the first debate, was proven wrong, ans had since corrected his attack.

In addition, when Obama accused McCain's campaign of running 100% negative ads, McCain should have been ready to discuss some positive ads he had run, as well as point out that at one point in the campaign that Obama had run 74% negative ads while McCain was at 58%. Unfortunately, as Obama pointed out - he has perception on his side. But McCain should have stated that perception is not fact and been ready with the facts.

McCain did have a great comeback when Obama said he would "look at" offshore drilling. That was one of the highlights of the debate for me. But he continues to give Obama a pass on nuclear energy. McCain explains why he is for it and Obama says he doesn't have a problem with nuclear. But when Obama goes through his litany of energy alternatives his presidency will include, he never mentions nuclear power. Ever. McCain needed to make this point. McCain also needed to point out that Obama's plan calls for $15 billion a year for 10 years to "develop" new energy technologies. That is insufficient to truly increase American energy supplies. In contrast, McCain has specific plans - increased domestic oil and natural gas production, 45 nuclear power plants, clean coal, etc.

McCain also had another moment when he said, "I am not President Bush. If you wanted to run against him, you should have run four years ago." But when Obama pointed out that their economic policies are basically the same, McCain didn't do enough to distinguish himself. He said they disagreed on torture, environmental protection and other non-economic issues. He should have made the argument that while he now supports the Bush tax cuts, he always opposed the increases in spending that Bush presided over. He could have made that point pretty well and did not. In addition, he mentioned, but did not go into detail, that Democrats have been in control of Congress for two years and the economy did not go south until recently. If he could have pointed to specific acts (or inaction) by the Democrats in Congress during the last two years, he could have scored a major point. But he just let it go.

And that is probably McCain's biggest weakness. He makes a point, Obama has a prepared come-back, and McCain lets the point drop - content with only raising the issue instead of winning the issue.

And the problem with that is that the tie really does go to Obama, since he is ahead. McCain needed to do more. He came the closest out of the three debates to a victory, but he didn't do enough. And time is running out for him to make up the gap. It's still possible, but his campaign must have razor-sharp precision on hitting the issues he can win in the next two and a half weeks. He hasn't been able to be that sharp to this date, so it remains to be seen whether he can pull it off. But, in a year that should be going heavily for Democrats, Obama has not yet sealed the deal. And that alone means McCain still has a chance.