The Final Debate - Live

10:31 - Obama gives his standard close, lots of mentions about the middle class and his best efforts to do right by them.

10:30 - Whoever had "my friends" for the drinking game tonight is pretty sober. Anyone who had "middle class" is on the floor.

10:28 - John has the first closing remark. And you know, it's not bad. If he had been like this for awhile, this would be a closer election. He has to hope most people haven't tuned out by now.

10:26 - McCain tries to throw one last shiv in, and he still comes off as a smart ass kid talking with an educated adult. It's like the sixteen year old "hippie" arguing with an adult. All empty ideology, no solid foundation.

10:25 - Autism is the new theme for McCain's campaign. Will now start the clock on the "Why does Obama hate those with autism?" commercials.

10:20 - John McCain - "troops to teachers. Come out of the military and need no certification to begin teaching."

WHAT!?! No disrespect to those in uniform, but teachers are trained to do their job for a reason. In the same way you were trained to do YOURS for a reason.

10:19 - McCain says "education is the civil rights issue of the twenty first century". A nice framing, but I doubt it will carry water.

10:17 - Obama gives the Democratic line, quite Clintonian, about the fact that education is related to the future growth of the American work force and American economic prosperity.

Probably because it's true.

10:15 - Okay, I lied. Obama, fantastic linking of the abortion rate to the rate of unwanted pregnancies in America. Attack the cause, not the symptom.

10:06 - Next question, Roe v. Wade. I'm ignoring this. Because the Republican's won't let Roe V Wade be overturned. Ever. It gets them elected. I'm breaking until the next question.

10:05 - Back to small government arguments from McCain. And yet his policies on the economy grow the size of government, not to mention his acquiescence to the largest growth of government in history over the last eight years, and that inclues the New Deal.

10:04 - McCain still won't address the fact that healthcare shopping on the open market will cause prices to go up, since there will no longer be the fallback of government help.

10:03 - Something just hit the screen. And then McCain got...sarcastic? John this is why people are turning away from you in droves. We enjoy sarcasm as entertainment. We vote leadership.

10:01 - McCain, that fine you asked about is 0. Because small businesses who can't afford to insure their employees don't get fined. And McCain looks incredulous that that might be the answer. Like someone told him otherwise, and he never looked it up for himself.

9:59 - If I have to hear about Joe the Plumber again, something will hit the screen.

9:57 - Next question on health care. I'm not going to re-write Obama's plan here, he's said it enough, check his website for the specifics. Barack keeps looking into the screen, addressing the view, stating his case. This guy doesn't get ruffled. McCain keeps punching, Obama takes it and just keeps stating his case.

As Andrew would say, "Patience and steel."

9:55 - Obama gives a long response, with a thrust on fuel efficient cars and green jobs. A new economy. A growth industry, meaning new jobs.

John McCain's answer "Hugh Chavez, blah blah blah, without preconditions, blah blah blah". I guess McCain's debate coach was....Sarah Palin?

9:51 - John McCain keeps pushing the idea that drilling for oil is going to fix gas prices now. It takes YEARS for an oil drill, land or sea based, to be erected. Even longer for that fuel to reach the pump. And that is assuming it doesn't get sold off overseas first (no oversight on that, right John?). So how does that fit with lowering gas prices in the short term?

Side note: McCain REALLY has the gloves off in this one. He's pissed. And he's having trouble hiding it. You can almost see him counting 10 with a frozen look on his face.

9:51 - First read on the McCain body language watch - "he keeps giving the whole 'there he goes again' look."

9:49 - Obama "No energy independence isn't going to happen in 4 years. 10 years is a more realistic time frame." Again Obama taking the long view, rebuilding the economy and underlying structure of the American economy. McCain is constantly pushing Band Aids.

9:47 - Apparently no one has given McCain the message that the whole scolding thing doesn't work.

9:46 - Every answer McCain tries to throw the "raising taxes" issue in. Except that only speaks to his base. Thinking independents are over it, and know it's BS.

9:44 - Obama gives a nice dodge on not getting into the mud over Palin.

9:43 - I still think it's going to be a touch thing for Obama to respond with knocking Palin. McCain talks about "a breath of fresh air". Huh? John you're in your 70s. Cronies? From someone in Washington for 26 years?

9:42 - Obama gives a great answer about Biden's solid experience. McCain now needs to match Palin.

9:40 - Next question is about running mates.

9:39 - Wow. McCain is. Wow. Words fail. I'll post video later.

9:37 - Obama is laying out the whole relationship with Ayers. Good and emphatic. ACORN stuff is the truth, who knows if people will actually bother believing.

Obama starts laying who he actually DOES associate with and consult for advice and names some solid names. If that doesn't put this whole narrative to rest, it should.

9:36 - John, do you realize you're on tape with ACORN two years ago praising them? Not to mention that whole thing is a non-starter.

9:34 - Does McCain really think he has the moral high ground here?

9:31 - Apparently McCain thinks attacking his policy positions are equivalent with the William Ayers stuff. He really just doesn't get it. Then again I get the sense he doesn't buy that.

9:29 - Obama, go ahead and attack me. I'll keep talking about the economy.

Good job. That's the right answer. And you get the sense that he believes that too.

9:28 - John Lewis from McCain. The town halls. The public financing. Kitchen sink from John McCain. This worked for Hillary, so why not.

Oh, wait......

9:26 - The tone of the campaign, according to McCain, got nasty because Obama wouldn't do town halls. So he didn't want to do your thing, so you got nasty. Classy.

9:25 - Here comes the questions about the negative ads. This should be fun.

9:20 - "Senator Obama, I'm not President Bush. If you wanted to run against President Bush, you should have run four years ago." Gotta say, nice line.

9:19 - AGAIN WITH THAT FREAKING OVER HEARD PROJECTER!?!?!?!?! IT WAS A PLANETARIUM!!!!!

Sorry. But Jesus.

9:16 - A decent, long-view answer from Obama on the "both of your plans will increase the debt" question. Basically, investing now means more money in the future to pay off that debt. Smart, risky, but smart. That's Barack's speed. McCain dissembles on the question. He can't come up with a proposal of his he will cut, but he also doesn't give the long view answer.

Again, he just sounds confused to me. Just to note though, the CNN dials are surging for McCain, especially amongst men.

9:13 - "We can't spread the wealth around" - McCain. Youch. That is the kind of out of context quote that can be a killer.

9:11 - McCain is trying the "spread the wealth around" argument. And the socialist arguments are off. Except he's the one proposing nationalizing mortgages. 0 consistency.

9:08 - Obama still coming off as strong, clear. It goes back to the idea that you may disagree with him, but he definitely sounds like he knows what he's talking about. McCain is telling some convoluted story about a "guy met on the campaign trail". His problem isn't that he doesn't have a plan. It is that he can't sell it.

9:05 - McCain is really pushing the mortgage buyout plan he "unveiled" in the last debate. For someone who has complained about big government, and who has supporters fearful of socialism, its a touchy move. And really isn't that smart anyway.

9:02 - And we're off. Just a quick beginning note, I like this format. Much more collegial than the last two.