imo both candidates showed why they are their party's nominee, and both men accomplished what they wanted.
mccain hammered on his opposition to out of control spending, and his experience in foreign affairs.
obama communicated his goal of changing the direction of the country, both domestically and internationally.
it was striking how comfortable obama was, how many times he looked directly at the camera to make his point, and the intelligence with which he approaches the issues.
mccain did well behind the podium with few problems with his phrases and words (he's preferred more open settings), and it's clearly the "experience" theme that he believes will win him the election.
as for "talking points", that was clearly where mccain was much more comfortable. he used those much, much more than obama, who was more free flowing with his responses.
I'm not expecting this debate to have altered the public much, although my initial reaction is that obama appeared more engaging by his body language and concise answers to the questions. if the voters get comfortable with him, get past the relative youth and the onslaught of rumours that have been tossed out about him, not to mention did you know he is a black american?, he has the election won.
one would expect that the viewers did get a good glimpse of the differences between them, and we should thank a good job by jim lehrer. he was eager to get them to talk to each other although they both resisted, and his questioning kept the time going at a good pace.
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