I believe McCarthy has it right. The debate was a total dud. McCain needed a game changer and didn’t get it. Actually, he screwed the pooch by trying to out-liberal Obama on buying mortgages.
I think the game changer was when McCain pointed out, on the tax issue, that Obama could write legislation tomorrow to cut taxes, but he doesn’t, his actual record (versus his words) was to raise taxes... he hit the point home (if the media picks up on it) that Obama will tell you anything to buy your votes, like a used car salesman.