Hotline After Dark -- On A Good Note, "Game-Changer" Wasn't Used As Much

The reviews for the third and final presidential debate between John McCain and Barack Obama are in:

FNC's Hume: "It was debate that was certainly combative but certainly not un-civil. Through it all Senator McCain seemed to be on the attack. Senator Obama seemed content to absorb the attacks and counterpunch. At no time did either man become particularly flustered or angry even though some strong language was used" (10/15).

MSNBC's Olbermann: "It was not the same John McCain, and unfortunately for John McCain, it was the same Barack Obama" ("Countdown," 10/15).

New York Times' Brooks, on whether McCain did what he had to do: "I think not. I thought he landed some blows, but the underlying theme of this whole campaign, Obama mentioned it's been 20 months, has been Obama's temperament. The man is calm. The man is unflappable. It's like a redwood forest. You can lob some cannon balls into it, and McCain lobbed some balls into it. I thought he scored some points, but it doesn't seem to affect the forest" ("NewsHour," PBS, 10/15).

Time's Halperin, on Obama: "I think he came in here saying, 'I come in with a lead. I'm going to leave with a lead.' I think he did that successfully in the sense he still has a lead, but so cautious, themeless, I thought, through the night, his weakest performance, particularly in those first 40 minutes, that I think his lead is going to be narrowed. ... He played it very safe. He didn't go after McCain very much. And on defense, I thought he was weak. ... I thought Obama looked bad. If the person who did his makeup tries to touch his face again, he should slap them away. He looked, I thought, horrible and tired and distracted. And he was at his worst in the beginning. Kind of peevish, looked almost like he was unhappy to be there" (CBS, 10/15).

Much more after the jump, including Joe the plumber's first interview.

(KATHERINE LEHR)

Dem strategist Paul Begala: "The first 30 minutes McCain won. This is his best performance. But as it dragged on, as it went on I think Obama did get his feet under him much better. And the reaction shots were killing McCain. You know, this is how Al Gore, quote, 'lost' the debate with Bush. Most people thought he had the better arguments, but the reaction shots. [McCain] looked like, you know, Grumpy McNasty up there again" ("AC 360," CNN, 10/15).

Geraldine Ferraro: "I was really a little bit surprised that there was absolutely no foreign policy issue that was brought up this evening, except with reference to Central America and with reference to trade. ... The Iraq war was if it did not exist. You know, funding and what that's going to do to our budget, as if that did not exist. And that was up, of course, to the moderator to bring up during the course of the questioning, which was not" ("Hannity & Colmes," FNC, 10/15).

Syndicated columnist Mark Shields: "I don't think that it was, in the parlance of this year, a game-changer that we were looking for, that John McCain was looking for. He was more aggressive, I think, and surprisingly aggressive, given the format of sitting at the table" ("NewsHour," PBS, 10/15).

Hillary Clinton, on McCain saying he isn't Bush: "Well, it's a little hard to buy that. He's obviously not the same person, but he has voted with President Bush about 90 percent of the time. So he has supported the Republican policies, which have contributed to the economic distress that our country is going through. ... I think it's going to take a Democratic president with a Democratic Congress to repair the damage that has been done by President Bush and the Republicans who supported his policies" ("AC 360," CNN, 10/15).

Syndicated columnist Charles Krauthammer: "I would love to be a contrarian, but it so obvious what happened tonight. I think everybody agrees. It was a dead draw, which means Obama won resoundingly. ... You could have had a grenade go off in the back of the room, and Obama would have smoothly spoken right through it. And that is his gift. He is a man of remarkable self-containment. ... Did you see his discipline on [Sarah] Palin? He did not say a single word attacking her, knowing it could only alienate a lot of people and would not advance his cause. It is that discipline and self-containment which I think is his greatest asset, and he deployed it remarkably tonight" (FNC, 10/15).

WH historian Michael Beschloss: "I think my overwhelming feeling is that, if Barack Obama is elected president 20 days from now, his performance in all three of these debates is going to have a lot to do with the reason" ("NewsHour," PBS, 10/15).

NBC's Mitchell: "That was the line of the debate ... John McCain saying, you know, Senator Obama, if you wanted to run against George Bush you should have run against him four years ago. I thought John McCain had a very strong night. I think this was his best debate, clearly. I'm not sure it was enough to close the gap. ... I still think that this debate went to John McCain" (MSNBC, 10/15).

GOP strategist Alex Castellanos: "Tonight Senator McCain was on offense on the economy. He was scoring points and had Barack Obama on defense on the economy. ... David Axelrod is pulling his hair out tonight. I thought his candidate had his worst debate, his flattest debate. Professorial. ... McCain was, I thought, aggressive and eloquent" ("AC 360," CNN, 10/15).

Mike Huckabee: "I thought Senator McCain stayed in the shallow end of the pool when he should have gone deep. He had a couple of opportunities to go really after Obama, whether it was on Ayers or ACORN. And the truth is Sean Hannity has done more and effectively to expose the Bill Ayers connection than John McCain was willing to do in his own debate tonight, and that's one of those missed opportunities" ("On the Record," FNC, 10/15).

Ex-Sen. Tom Daschle (D-SD), on McCain: "He spent 90 minutes tonight on the attack. You know, about 2/3 of the American people think that he's an angry candidate. It looked like for the next 90 minutes he tried to convince the other third he was angry. ... I think they told John McCain, go for it. ... What have you got to lose? You're losing right now so go for it. ... He tried just about everything tonight. He looked increasingly frustrated as he did. I almost felt sorry for the guy" ("Countdown," MSNBC, 10/15).

JOEMENTUM

CBS' Couric was the first to talk with Joe Wurzelbacher following the debate. Joe is "the plumber" that was mentioned numerous times.

Wurzelbacher, on the debate: "I wasn't swayed either way. I mean, I have a pretty good idea who I'm going to vote for, but, you know, that's the nice thing about going into the booth is only me and the lever knows so. I think McCain did a fine job this evening. I think he brought up some good points. I do like his health care and I do like where he stands on taxes."

Couric: "Was this a bit of a surreal experience, hearing your name mentioned ... almost half a dozen times during the course of this debate?"

Wurzelbacher: "Yeah, actually, surreal's a good word to use for it. ... I was glad I was able to act as some type of point, you know, to where they could sit there and hammer out what they both think, what they want to say. But ultimately, you know, the important part was the debate."

Couric: "Why don't you just reiterate quickly for us ... how you felt about the statements made by the candidates vs. the statements you heard when they were out on the campaign trail talking to you."

Wurzelbacher: "One thing I noticed that seemed like Obama changed his mind on offshore drilling, which I thought was a good move. ... McCain was solid in his performance. Obama speaks well, but the one thing that's really important, that everyone in America really need to know is, you know, talk is talk. ... We've seen McCain, we know his actions. Even if you disagree with him, at least you know where he stands. ... Obama, we're not sure where he stands yet, even after his debates. ... He speaks eloquently, better than I do, but I honestly, I still don't know where he stands. He's said a lot, but none of his experience has backed it up. You know, the only experience I've seen or his actions are raising our taxes, so, you know, I'm middle class. I can't have my taxes raised anymore."

Couric: "Well, he supposedly will raise taxes only on people who make over $250,000 a year. Would you be in that category?"

Wurzelbacher: "Not right now at presently, but, you know, question, so he's going to do that now for people who make $250,000 a year. When's he going to decide that $100,000 is too much, you know? I mean, you're on a slippery slope here."

Wurzelbacher, asked how he met both of the candidates: "I've yet to meet John McCain. Obama came to my neighborhood and my son and I were outside tossing the football, and all of a sudden he showed up, and there went our football tossing for a while. ... Neighbors were outside asking him questions, and I didn't think they were asking him tough enough questions, so I thought, you know, I'll go over there. ... Unfortunately, I asked the question but I still got a tap dance. ... Almost as good as Sammy Davis Jr." (CBS, 10/15).

Hume: "The debate, if that had a star, was probably Joe the plumber, who received, by our count, 15 mentions from Senator McCain and five from Senator Obama" (10/15).

Washington Post's Robinson: "I don't think it served John McCain's purposes. ... It got silly when they actually started addressing their answers to Joe, rather than to Bob Schieffer, or to America, or anybody else. And, in the end, it was kind of a waste of time in a debate that I doubt really shifted the ground underneath this election very much" ("Countdown," MSNBC, 10/15).

Obama comm. dir. Robert Gibbs: "Joe the Plumber was with McCain when Barack knocked on his door on Sunday. So I'm not altogether surprised we didn't change Joe the Plumber's mind" ("Hardball," MSNBC, 10/15).

BACK WHERE I COME FROM

In the series "Presidential Questions," Couric asked Obama and McCain the same set of questions on last night's "Evening News."

Couric: "You and your opponent have both been criticized as elitists. Given the way you live today, why isn't that a valid criticism?"

Obama: "Well, look at how I came up. Raised by single mom. Family had very little money when I was growing up. We were on food stamps at some points. I went to school on scholarships. Michelle, coming from the south side of Chicago. ... That's our background. ... I can provide you the date exactly, up until I spoke at the Democratic National Convention where suddenly my book sold. ... We were living in a two, three bedroom condo that was already getting too small. Two kids. No college fund set up yet. Not much of a retirement fund to speak of. At the end of every month -- sometimes having to figure out whether or not we could pay all of the bills. So the things that middle class families are going through right now, Michelle and I went through five years ago. So the point is that we are about as ordinary a pair, a couple as probably as ever embarked on this journey to the White House."

Couric: "I think it's the Ivy League education ... that somehow going to Harvard Law School and being the head of the Law Review and for Michelle, going to Princeton and Harvard Law School, it puts you in this rarified air."

Obama: "I think that's an interesting point. ... Sometimes this is something that in the African American community has been a problem. ... We worked hard. We focused on school. We reached for you know, what we were told was the best education possible. To then suggest that makes us elitist or that we're no longer part of the community which again, has not only been part of the public dialogue, but Michelle and I and a lot of other African Americans have had to struggle with. The notion is if you're authentic, you know, you wouldn't go to a place like Harvard. I think that's a perverse incentive. A perverse message in terms of what we want to send to our kids."

McCain: "I grew up as the son of a naval officer. I don't believe that most Americans would believe that's an elitist lifestyle. In fact, that entails a lot of sacrifice on the part of the family. Second of all, I lived for five and a half years without a kitchen table or a chair in a small cell sometimes by myself. But the point is that you get in touch with the American people by doing the town hall meetings where you hear the hopes and the dreams and the aspirations and the concerns of the American people and you come in direct contact with them. In all due respect to programs like these, you can look into people's eyes and hear what's on their minds."

Couric: "Why do you think so many prominent political figures risk so much by being unfaithful to their spouse?"

Obama: "I have no idea. ... The more I'm in public, I mean, I don't even want to pick my nose, you know. ... I'm assuming everyone is watching. ... I'll leave that to the psychologists. But I find that, the more I'm in the public eye, the more I want to make sure that people know that there's no gap between who I am and the face I'm presenting to the world. You want people to know that what you say is what you mean and that's who you are."

McCain: "I don't know Katie and I don't understand people's personal lives. And so I can't comment on that. I think it's something that I am not really running for president to address so I really can't comment on it."

Couric: "Isn't it bizarre though when you think about it Senator? Elliott Spitzer, recently John Edwards, President Clinton. I think it's very befuddling to many people in this country."

McCain: "Yeah but I also am reminded of the biblical admonition about judge not. And so I really don't make any comments about that because frankly, I want to be a good president and try to lead an honorable life. And I've been an imperfect servant and so I'm not judging" (CBS, 10/15).