Friday night’s debate was a chance for Sen. McCain to turn things around in this election. He’s trailing in the polls, both him and his running mate had a horrible past few weeks, tarnished by disturbingly bad interviews, phony “campaign suspension” stunts, and other missteps, and Friday night’s debate was McCain’s change to turn things in his favor. He desperately needed a clear victory.
It was also a crucial opportunity for McCain’s campaign because the debate’s focus was McCain’s own professed area of expertise: foreign policy. The centerpiece of the McCain campaign has been precisely the more than quarter of a century of experience the Senator has debating and discussing foreign policy issues in Washington. He needed to deliver a game-changing performance on Friday night to get his campaign back on track.
Sen. McCain failed.
The candidates layed out their different approaches to America’s foreign policy and most observers declared the debate a tie. That’s clearly a failure and a considerable defeat for the McCain campaign, who had place all its bets on McCain’s ability to overshadow Obama on foreign policy issues.
What’s even more good news for Sen. Obama is that people who watched the debate believed he did better. Again, in a debate focused on McCain’s “specialty.”
Below are the CNN post-debate polls. Don’t like CNN? Check out the USA Today/Gallup poll.
Who did the best job tonight?
Obama: 51
McCain: 38
Who would better handle Iraq?
Obama: 52
McCain: 47
Filed under: FPPfO
