Debates really aren't about arguing, they're just popularity contests. Whoever comes out looking cooler is usually the winner.
Yep, McCain really needed to set up a narrative of trying to get the word out that Obama is a dangerous leftist who is especially dangerous in these treacherous economic times.
He didn’t have to succeed in making his case last night, but he had to make it clear that was the message he would like to get across. Unfortunately McCain was all too tepid and small-bore in his attacks, which makes it come across that there’s really nothing alarming at stake if people choose to go with the articulate young man.