Results

He didn't do anything as bold as I would have liked, but McCain gave a solid performance tonight that should remove some of the reservations that swing voters might have been feeling after last week's debate.

John McCain needed a miracle in his final debate with Barack Obama on Wednesday
night, a miracle that would wipe away McCain’s deficit in the polls and
re-energize his flagging campaign.

Best line of the night was McCain telling Barack that if he wanted to run against George Bush, he should have run 4 years ago.

He did not get one. The clouds did not part. Heavenly choirs were not heard.
Instead, the American public heard angry attacks from McCain.

Barack was masterful at controlling his tone, and at sounding thoughtful and reasonable - as usual. But I disagree with the premise that McCain needed to blow things up. It would have been nice, but with polls showing the race as close as 3%, a move of a point or two toward McCain could make a big difference.

The biggest impact of the three presidential debates for Obama was not anything said or not said. It was impressionistic: Obama simply did not appear to be the scary “other” that McCain needs him to be. “When people suggest that I pal around with terrorists, then we are not talking about issues,” Obama said smoothly.

While McCain failed to make big points on Ayers or ACORN, this could tilt things slightly in his favor, and over the next 20 days, that could be enough.

The race is not over. It would be wrong to write McCain off. After all, there is still almost three weeks to go. And in politics, anything can happen. It usually doesn’t, however.