Channel C: The Great Debate II

Going into the second presidential debate, each candidate was looking to accomplish certain goals. Senator John McCain, whose polls have been sagging, was looking to paint his opponent as a risky, dangerous, and unpresidential choice. Senator Barack Obama on the other hand, was aiming to appear cool, calm and prepared to lead.

Unfortunately for McCain, it appears his strategy backfired. The Arizona senator repeatedly attacked his opponent, and his attempts at humor fell flat. From polls taken by CNN, Obama crushed McCain in likability, taking a 65 percent to 28 percent advantage. Viewers were quoted as saying that personal attacks were a waste of their time when issues like the economy needed to be talked about. In that same CNN poll, Obama won the debate 54 percent to John McCain's 30 percent.

The folks at Comments From The Left Field clearly believe it was Obama who scored the victory:

• What really happened was, again, one candidate clearly looked presidential, and the other candidate was John McCain.

No Bush Left Behind clearly didn't connect with John McCain's humor, and found the candidate patronizing:

• At best, McCain’s “sense of humor” is sick and inappropriate for a presidential candidate. He pointed to Obama (without looking at him) and referred to him as “that one”; and another time he explained his song “Bomb Bomb Iran” was a joke. The only joke in Nashville last night was John McCain.

David Corn felt that the debate was closer than most bloggers did, but in the end still felt Obama came out on top:

• For an evening billed as The Night McCain Attacks, Obama landed as many blows as did McCain. Neither took any wild swings. But Obama, leading in the national polls and those within swing states, didn't have to.