There are better sites out there talking politics right now, so I’d go to those, but here’s a quick little analysis of what I saw. To me Obama won that debate handily. McCain was doing very well for the first half hour or so but by the end Obama had run away with it. CNN (well the Republicans over at CNN) is saying that John McCain won because he was on the offensive. But that fact is that McCain’s offense was easily swatted away by Obama. Every attack McCain threw at him, Obama handled with poise and nuance.

Beyond that, most of McCain’s policies were overly simplified or left unmentioned. And the few that were mentioned, such as the spending freeze, wlater had holes poked in them by Obama and McCain never rebutted. Every time McCain criticized a policy, Obama responded with a clarification of McCain’s lies and disinformation.

This debate was won by Obama, and in my opinion by a greater margin than any of the previous debates. Not only was Obama a more persuasive debater, but his policies align with my own personal opinions better than most politicians. Obviously, that skews me towards him, but I’d be willing to admit if McCain made valid points that made me question my preference. But he didn’t. Obama won. Hands down.

And Joe the Plumber is now officially a celebrity. Probably only for a week, but he’ll have a wikipedia article, gosh darn it, you betcha.