McCain is going to energize the base? The same base that he spends so much time pissing off???
Reminder: Only the political junkies are watching. And this was all about New Hampshire, with a vague undercurrent from attempts to erase Huckabee votes in South Carolina but almost entirely the debate was about New Hampshire.
Talk about change is a focus group tested thing to attract Independent voters, but it also focuses attention on Obama who is widely advertised as making change a theme, so that has a double value for Romney if he can send Independents back to Obama and away from McCain. Romney leads among NH GOP voters. It is the addition of independents that lifts McCain’s numbers.