What I took away from last night's debate:
- There were no fireworks and no knockdowns. This was a serious debate.
- The foreign policy theme should have played to McCain's strength, but he couldn't exploit the opportunity. He threw a lot of hard punches, but Obama was not intimidated and parried effectively. He showed this was a contest between equals, something McCain cannot afford to concede.
- McCain's contempt for Obama was so obvious it will probably emerge as the big storyline of the night. His inability to respond to Obama's occasional gracious comment with anything but disdain was jarring, and his inability to make eye contact with Obama was just plain weird. The last thing McCain needs is to be labeled an angry old man, but that's how he came across.
Two more like this and its all over.
Over at Time, Mark Halperin apparently agrees.
