It was a substantive debate. No flag pin-type questions. And Obama did more than hold his own.

Did you catch Sean Hannity's head exploding over the weekend at Dick Morris' suggestion Obama had won the debate? Good times.

now, with the traditional approach of trying to pin your opponent as risky and not competent not sticking for McCain, and the gimmicks of suspending campaigns,etc. not working, it has to make you afraid of what they try next....

meanwhile with banks failing in Europe and the TED spread at 3.5% it seems even a $700 billion bailout is not enough... ouch

M Dowd was complaining in her column Sunday that Obama didn't go for the low-hanging fruit in the debate. He could of put away McCain a couple times with some good lines, but he resisted.

Smart move by Obama, he instead went for the high road, and I think that did him a lot of good. Dowd would of loved a snarky debate, but Obama was too smart to fall into that trap.

This just showcases why McCain's gimmick tactics for winning were such a mistake. This election was always about Obama versus Not Obama, and the only way Obama was going to lose was if people didn't trust him. And the only way that was going to happen was if he totally blew it and made some big mistakes. And the best way for McCain to make that happen was to run a tight campaign that stayed right on Obama's behind the whole time, pushing it into making a mistake.

But instead, McCain decided to try to jump ahead by making big plays that were risky, and now he's finding himself falling behind. And even if his moves weren't backfiring, he's never been applying the pressure that was needed to get Obama to make a big mistake, and instead keeps giving him breathing room by always making the news stories about McCain. And the negative attacks were a mistake too, as people generally like Obama and the attacks are too ridiculous to be believed. They're designed to satisify conservatives who already distrust Obama, not undecideds.

McCain needed to sit back and hope Obama would blow up. Instead, he pulled a Wile E. Coyote and is learning that dynamite is more dangerous than it looks. This election is Obama's to lose, and McCain isn't making that happen.

Steve Benen, absolutely right that this was a major goal, and one surpassed by Obama at the debate. It may well double his lead nationally by the end of this week. But your post below on Palin is dangerous -- Democrats should not get self-assured or cocky. Obama himself sounds a little like he is crowing, and he should not be led off his game.

Kristol's column was also correct, unfortunately, in that casting Palin as the aggrieved or wronged social conservative who is now being "liberated" to speak her mind (largely upon "morals" issues) will indeed cause a surge back the other way -- and she may be able to deliver enough memorized boilerplate at the debate to secure it. This is still a very fluid election and a mistake will be very costly. No one should take anything for granted!

There is a chance that part of Palin's "liberation" (which, if Kristol is talking about it, may already be in the playbook) will involve an exploitation of the "Palin is being disrespected by Obama campaign" gambit already unveiled in Alabama. This would be using the "sexism" card to veil the use of the "race" card.

Obama's performance in the debate reassured me. While I anticipated voting for him, I admit some reluctance.

But Thursday night will be a popcorn night. I do hope Biden can hold his tongue - he doesn't suffer fools gladly. Any thoughts, Steve, on how Biden should handle the situation?

"Any thoughts, Steve, on how Biden should handle the situation?"

Well, I say he handle the situation the same way he handled the post debate commentary. Go after Mc
Cain, not Palin. She'll fail just fine on her own.

OK, he sounded good, smart and calm and not uppity at all, but he was just acting because he's really an undercover Muslim terrorist AND a communist, too.

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John McCain is the is the kindest, bravest, warmest, most wonderful human being America has ever known.

"It was a substantive debate. No flag pin-type questions."

Yes, because Jim Lehrer is a good moderator.

But DID you see that St. John wasn't wearing a flag pin? Why is NO ONE going ballistic on that?

Much ado was made about Obama saying, "You're right John", but Obama was very smart. He couldn't be "uppity" and he accomplished the goal of pointing out that he isn't that different from McCain, but on several powerful issues, he is better. He needed to be seen as not "the other" that is scary and he more than accomplished that. He neutralized McCain's ability to cudgel him, which is the "red meat" the "base" loves, and keep the debate above board and on his terms. McCain was seething the whole time and you could see it.

Biden just needs to steer clear of debating Palin and keeping the focus on McCain. Palin will help with that because she is basically McCain's cheerleader with no currency of her own. That way it won't look sexist or condescending when he responds to her. She will do herself in without Biden's help.