Fighter Pilot Strafes His Target

McCain got better pundit assessments than after earlier debates in Mississippi and Nashville:

George Stephanopoulos: McCain "was able to set the agenda."

Tom Brokaw: Obama "appeared to be sitting" on his lead.

Jeff Greenfield: "McCain came out stronger and did push Barack Obama back on his heels a bit."

Pat Buchanan: Obama "almost ducked engagement with McCain."

Alex Castellanos: Obama was "professorial . . . his worst debate, his flattest debate."

The morning-paper assessment: McCain did well but not well enough.

L.A. Times: "A newly aggressive McCain failed to deliver a clear knockout blow in the candidates' third and final face-off, despite a series of sharp verbal clashes with Obama about higher taxes, negative campaigning, former radical Bill Ayers and a bald man nicknamed Joe the Plumber.

"Although McCain's performance seemed more spirited than in the two previous debates, the Republican appeared unlikely to reverse his steady downhill slide in recent polls."

Boston Globe: "Obama responded with cool, collected answers -- sometimes too cool, answering McCain's teeth-gritting attacks with a grin that seemed more amused than offended . . .

"McCain's very intensity may have at least prompted some voters to take a second look at Obama and his policies."

New York Times: "It looked like Mr. McCain might, just might, raise the level of his game in throwing Mr. Obama off his -- Mr. McCain's essential goal 20 days before the election, as he seeks a comeback in the face of declining poll numbers in battlegrounds like Pennsylvania and Virginia.