Results of the Final Presidential Debate

Overall, the best debate thus far, hands down.

Bravo to Bob Shieffer – great job moderating the debate. He asked good questions (could have done without the VP question again) but he essentially stayed out of the discussion but to ask the questions, allow follow-ups and redirects and he kept the conversation flowing.

OVERALL: Some sharp exchanges tonight but, will the results sway independent votes to the right? In majority, I think not. People needed to see McCain CRUSH Obama on the issues; all Obama really needed to do was stay afloat and respond to the issues. He’s eloquent, he can do that. A lot of effort from McCain that came a little too late in my opinion. By no means was this McCain’s last chance to close the gap but a stronger performance was needed – particularly in the last 20 minutes which is what most tend to remember. Ronald Reagan was behind in the polls during his first term up until the week before the election so, I wouldn’t close the books on McCain just yet. Side note: what a blunder in speaking to Palin and autism when her child suffers from down syndrome. Wowzahs….

AYERS AND ACORN: I strongly disagreed with other Republicans who felt McCain needed to confront Obama with allegations regarding Ayers and ACORN. Not a good strategy. Why? Because the intent of the debate isn’t to solidify Republican votes (already outraged by the allegations) but to sway independent votes and leaning undecideds from the left… and a) Ayers and ACORN aren’t the key issues for these segments and b) confronting Obama on non-key issues during a televised debate gave Obama an opportunity to eloquently and calmly talk his way out of it, which he did. Allegations are just that and now, that card has been played.

SUPREME COURT JUSTICES: I would have liked to hear more on this topic because it bears huge impact on the next four years since the next President will likely be electing more than one Justice to the bench. In fact I don’t believe that enough emphasis has been placed on this issue from either campaign. On elections, McCain said he’s against litmus tests and would elect a Justice based on his/her record of adhering to strict interpretations of the constitution and would not elect based on political ideology. First, I don’t like the use of the verbiage “litmus test.” It’s overused and overplayed; and second, McCain should have HAMMERED Obama when Obama “suggested” that he would elect a Justice who shared the same core values. That is a dangerous relationship and puts the value of our highest legal system at risk.

THE ECONOMY: For the first time, McCain finally said “I am not Bush.” I’ve been wanting him to shout this out to the heavens and the people for quite some time now. It goes without saying: he needed to do this much earlier on in the campaign. I think McCain did a much better job than previously of calling out specifics – specific programs he supported, plans for reform, and specific programs he would cut (I would have been in heaven if he had addressed welfare specifically - screw the hatchet, bring on the blow torch!).

I am a huge proponent of free trade and would have liked to have heard McCain push Obama more on his position with NAFTA and other FTA’s and I also think he should have pushed Obama more on previous statements regarding energy independence and specifically, his shifting support of Nuclear energy.

EDUCATION: On outlying specifics of his education plan – I think this was a slam dunk for McCain. State taxes need to be applied more appropriately and reform is necessary BEFORE federal funding is injected into a broken system. Personally, I’m against having more federal government involved in our education system that state government.

HEALTHCARE: I said this after the first (or second) debate, McCain needed to address DIRECTLY the allegation that 20million will be dropped from their employer based healthcare plans under his proposed healthcare plan. This is a critical point, and again, like a fart in the wind, it just soaked up the air and blew right by him. He missed the opportunity. He needed to say ‘Your 20milliion estimation is completely wrong Senator Obama. You keep wanting to throw that number out there to sway middle class voters but this is why it’s wrong and this is why it’s misleading [dot, dot, dot].” And, he also should have detailed his plan clearly and spoke directly to the large part of his healthcare plan which includes system REFORMS and oversight - two key things that would stem discrimination drops, pre-existing condition drops and help address the inflated 20million number (which btw: INCLUDES a proportion of the people who are CURRENTLY UNINSURED). And also for the record, there is no evidence to suggest that even without reform and oversight, any forced drops (for discrimination or other) would occur under McCain's healthcare plan. Having said that, he needs to remember to talk to his plan outside of refundable credits and a free market. Similar to the housing debacle, free market movement with reform and strict oversight would have steered us away from the economic mess we find ourselves in.

There you have it. A good debate but I felt myself reaching for more and the "more" never quite came.

So, who won?

Well clearly....Joe the Plummer!