The Heck with Substance

Another reporter: What about Ayers?

Schmidt: "Unrepentant domestic terrorist . . . Mr. Obama has not been truthful about the dimensions of his relationship with Mr. Ayers."

Anyone who bought the pregame hype about how the candidate was going to go harshly negative doesn't understand how debates work. This was, after all, a town hall, with actual voters, not just Tom Brokaw, posing many of the questions. So even though the Arizonan had spent the previous 48 hours trashing Obama as a liar who once hung out with William Ayers, it was always going to be hard to press such personal attacks at Belmont University.

And the Dow had just dropped another500 points. So unlike some of my colleagues, I wasn't expecting blood on the floor.

What we got, instead, was a sober debate about the economy. No character attacks. No Ayers. No Keating. Disappointing the press, perhaps, but not, in my estimation, the viewing audience.

Obama hit his marks in the first two minutes: blame the Bush/McCain economy, crack down on greedy CEOs, middle-class tax cuts: you need someone working for you. (And not once did he say that "Senator McCain is absolutely right.")

McCain did as well (while quickly acknowledging Obama to avoid the crankiness rap of Ole Miss): energy independence, rein in spending, Treasury should buy up distressed mortgages. He said Fannie and Freddie got into trouble "with the encouragement of Senator Obama and his cronies." Obama said McCain has bragged about being a deregulator while he, the senator from Illinois, warned about a subprime crisis.

Obama wasn't Bill Clinton, but mike in hand, he probably did the feel-your-pain thing better than McCain, and more intently than he usually does. McCain pushed bipartisanship in one breath and accused Obama of a huge liberal spending record in the next. Obama accused McCain of offering big tax cuts to oil companies (actually to all corporations, but Big Oil's really unpopular). McCain attacked earmarks. Obama hit Bush for urging shopping after Sept. 11, 2001.

And then -- McCain compared Obama to Herbert Hoover, the Republican president who botched the Depression? Because, he said, Obama wants to raise taxes -- though McCain didn't mention the hike would hit the $250K-plus crowd. Then Mac got defensive and said he wasn't cutting taxes for the rich. But he is -- along with other income groups -- by extending the Bush tax cuts.

McCain accused Obama of wanting to fine employers who don't provide health insurance. Obama deflected the charge and got unusually personal in describing how his mother spent her final months fighting with insurance companies when she was dying of cancer.

For those following the campaign, the candidates didn't break much new ground. It was a lot of meat-and-vegetables and almost no light moments. They rehashed their differences on Iraq. McCain accused Obama of announcing an invasion of Pakistan and Obama chided McCain for singing "bomb, bomb, bomb Iran." The audience questions were awfully general and not very personal, depriving the session of the "moment" that the press loves to pounce on.

My prediction, as it's winding down: The pundits will say it was a setback for McCain because he's trailing and didn't get a (repeat after me) "game-changer."