Fighter Pilot Strafes His Target

John McCain may have won over Joe the Plumber, but I doubt his "class warfare" swipe at Barack Obama turned the tide last night.

When McCain pounced on Obama's recent conversation with the aforementioned Joe, Obama countered that 98 percent of small businesses make less than $250,000, the level at which he would raise taxes. And Obama doesn't mind raising taxes on Exxon.

There was one line at the Hofstra debate that will become the sound bite of the evening: "Senator Obama, I am not President Bush." That was hardly "you're no Jack Kennedy"; it was almost like McCain was reading his talking point aloud. ( No. 3. Boss: Distance yourself from W.) And it allowed Obama to recite McCain's record of backing the mightily unpopular Republican president.

It was the first real debate between the two, thanks to the pointed and persistent questioning by Bob Schieffer. The turning point came when the CBS newsman asked the candidates whether they would repeat the harshest rhetoric of their ads and campaign statements to each other's faces.

McCain wound up accusing Obama of spending record amounts on negative ads and complained about John Lewis likening him to George Wallace. But he soon enough got around to Obama's ties to Bill Ayers and ACORN.

Obama countered that 100 percent of McCain's ads are negative, noted the cries of "terrorist!" and "kill him!" at Palin rallies and detailed his limited relationship with Ayers, dismissing the attack as a distraction. But he seemed defensive and off balance.

Obama passed up Schieffer's invitation to declare Joe Biden more qualified to be POTUS than Sarah Palin, answering without so much as alluding to Palin. Pressed again, Obama called her a capable politician who had fired up the GOP base. Clearly, he decided he does not want to run against Sarah Barracuda.

On the first abortion question of the debates, McCain would leave it up to the states, Obama defended the Supreme Court decision Roe v. Wade. Both said no litmus tests; neither was entirely candid. McCain attacked on partial-birth abortion; Obama said he opposes the procedure but voted present on a bill that didn't make an exception for the mother's health. But again, he had to spend his time explaining.

McCain overshot the runway at times -- comparing Obama to Herbert Hoover, again? -- but clearly had decided that time is running short and he had to inflict the most damage he could in 90 minutes. He seemed to grow more condescending as the session wore on.

It was probably McCain's strongest debate, in that he spent the most time on offense. He landed more blows, but Obama's game plan wasn't to swing away. It was to project confidence, do a little counterpunching and seem eminently reasonable. And that he did.

Closing thought: How long before Joe the Plumber is on Larry King? Oops, I spoke too soon. Joe Werzelbacher was on Katie Couric's Webcast, saying he's still not sure where Obama stands. How many more debates does he want?

I thought the insta-polls would be closer this time, but I was wrong. CBS gives it to Obama, 53-22. CNN: Obama, 58-31. That tells me a lot of people were already leaning. Even if these polls are off, the margin tells you something.