No Surprises in the Debate Probably Means Good News for Obama

Briefly, Barack Obama was composed and presidential throughout and may have convinced some voters concerned about his inexperience that he's prepared for the presidency. John McCain had a lackluster start -- when the topic was the economy -- but got better as the debate progressed when the topics turned to foreign policy and he could argue Obama was too naive and untested to be president. Interestingly, McCain usually seemed animated only when he could discuss military policy, though he had Obama on the defensive in the last 30 minutes on issues such as Iran and Russia. To the extent there was a key difference voters may remember, it will be each candidate's respective position on Iraq, and McCain has to hope that the electorate agrees with him.