Who Won Presidential Debate #3, John McCain or Barack Obama?

In wednesday night's third and final Presidential debate of the 2008 Presdiential election, the format followed the first debate. Economics and domestic policy were to be the topics for discussion. The main differences from debate #1 was that Bob Schieffer was the moderator and John McCain and Barack Obama were seated together at the same table along with Schieffer.

On TV, both candidates were visible on a split screen at all times, so that while one was slamming the other, viewers could see the "slammees" reaction. John McCain came out swinging, as expected, and landed a few verbal jabs on Barack Obama's chin. If viewers could just hear the comments and not see the video, I can understand how many could see this debate as a John McCain win. Of course, it doesn't really matter in the "big picture" who anyone thought was the victor of those voters who already had their minds made up.

What will effect this Presidential election is how the Presidential debate played in the minds of undecided voters. In most respects, I thought McCain made his points well and asked some questions of Barack Obama that needed to be answered. Some points were rebutted by Obama effectively, some not as much. So, why did all the polls show that most viewers scored the debate a win for Obama? A poll on CNN immediately after the debate showed 58% of the viewers said Barack Obama won, to 31% for John McCain. Other polls taken by other sources showed much the same result.

It's all in the split screen, my friends. Speaking of which, I can only recall two times that John McCain used his trademark phrase. Could it be that McCain's handlers convinced him not to speak those two words which have been so overused in his campaign? Anyway, because viewers could see the reactions of both men at all times on the split screen, john Mccain suffered from the Al Gore effect. You see, about this point in the 2000 election, Al Gore had an 11 point lead and was said to have "won" the debates on substance.

However, Al Gore was seen sighing and making faces at many of George W. Bush's comments. That proved to be a problem for Gore, even though he won the popular vote by 500,000 votes. As Paul Begala of CNN noted, the reaction shots of John McCain while Barack Obama was speaking will be problematic for McCain. McCain alternated between looking like he had had too much caffeine or not enough fiber as Obama spoke much of the evening. At times, McCain looked as if his eyes were about to pop out of his head, he rolled his eyes at times, and generally had this constipated look about him.

McCain tried hard to be genial toward Obama, so as not to offend undecided voters, but whether it is generational or what, McCain could scarcely conceal his contempt for Obama at times, or at least for Obama's proposals. How is that a problem? For one thing, not everyone a President of the U.S. must deal with is someone he or she likes. Presidents must be able to reach across party lines and deal with the Speaker of the House, foreign leaders and many others. Not all of them will be pleasant to deal with.

If John McCain is elected on Nov. 4, will he show a look of utter contempt for, say Vladimir Putin or the leader of Spain in critical meetings? Recently, McCain went so far as saying he wouldn't sit down with the leader of Spain, one of our longtime allies. Can McCain put his personal feelings aside and do what's best for America? I would hope so. I think John McCain has many good points and has done many good things for our country, and not just his POW status. But is John McCain "Presidential?" The man has a reputation as a "hothead" even among members of his own party.

In short, while John McCain raised some legitimate points in the debate and generally performed well, he talked out of both sides of his mouth on William Ayers, first saying he wasn't interested in some "washed-up terrorist", then questioning Obama on their relationship, which was never close, apparently.

There was some bizarre banter about "Joe the Plumber", which took up too much time in the debate by both candidates. All I want to know about "Joe the Plumber" is: can he fix a leak and do his pants sag to an indecent level, that's all.

In this final Presidential debate, if not for the reaction shots, I would actually say that McCain came away with a slight victory. However, as football coaches say, the tape doesn't lie, and the tape will show John McCain's facial contortions, which in turn hurt his chances of winning undecided voters. Plus, McCain needed more than a slight victory in this debate. Any victory McCain won will not do more than make for a closer loss barring something unexpected, which admittedly could happen in this long, strange election. However, if, as polls are showing, undecideds are siding more with Obama in this debate, that cannot add up to a McCain victory.