Open Season on Small Game

"Senator McCain is proposing tax cuts that would give the average Fortune 500 CEO an additional $700,000 in tax cuts."

"Nailing down Senator Obama's various tax proposals is like nailing Jell-O to a wall."

"This is the guy who sang, 'Bomb, bomb, bomb Iran.' "

"We don't have time for on-the-job training, my friends."

"Senator McCain, the Straight Talk Express lost a wheel on that one."

McCain was the more aggressive . He strode to center stage more quickly to meet Obama on his side. He got so close to the questioners that some appeared frightened. Rather than sit while Obama spoke, he stood upright or leaned against his stool. He was fidgety and unsmiling.

But if McCain succeeded in keeping Obama on the defensive for much of the night, he never quite "took the gloves off" as he had promised and his running mate, Sarah Palin, had urged. The names of past Obama associates Bill Ayers and Jeremiah Wright, who have so inflamed tensions on the campaign trail, never came up.

On many of the big issues, both aspiring commanders were cagey. Would Obama commit to reforming Medicare and Social Security within two years? "I can't guarantee that," he said. And McCain? "My friends, what we have to do with Medicare is have a commission."

When the questioning turned to health care, McCain found himself talking about his baldness. "All of those people will be covered, except for those who have these gold-plated Cadillac kinds of policies," McCain said of his health-care proposals, then added: "You know, like hair transplants. I might need one of those myself."

Hair transplants? Not a game-changer. And for McCain, that was a problem. The political oddsmakers have come to a near-unanimous view that, barring unforeseen developments, McCain is on course to lose the election. McCain, therefore, needs an unforeseen development.

"John McCain needs a game-changer," said the Christian Science Monitor.

"McCain heads into tonight's debate here down in the polls and in need of a game-changer," quoth NBC.