Well, the first debate is in the can. The two seemed pretty evenly matched in terms of debating skills. I present to you the notes I took while watching:

McCain looks like he has powder caked into his forehead lines.

Wow, he actually used the word "Republicans!"

Good framing on Obama's part about the need for 21st-century regulation. Makes a nice distinction between past and future.

Oh god, there McCain goes again, brown-nosing the American worker. You opposed equal pay for equal work, dipwad.

McCain keeps talking about earmarks, yet his running mate is a champion porkstress.

McCain: "I didn't win Miss Congeniality in the U.S. Senate." So that's why you picked a beauty pageant queen as your running mate?

McCain is whining about business taxes. I bet all those people who've lost their homes are really losing sleep about that. Also, Enron didn't pay any taxes for years!

Obama: Good point about how McCain wants to tax health benefits.

Is "cut spending" all McCain can say?

Obama needs to point out McCain's campaign is run by lobbyists.

That's a lie McCain just told about Obama's health insurance plan, saying the federal government would be making decisions that should be between you and your doctor. Please. If anyone wants to do that, it is the anti-choice ticket of McCain-Palin.

What's this about a spending freeze except for defense and vet programs and entitlements? That sounds a bit draconian. And highly selective.

Good, Obama finally mentioned how Iraq is costing us $10 billion a month.

McCain: "Low taxes will help our economy recover." Yeah, those Bush tax cuts worked wonders, didn't they? I'll take Obama's middle-class tax cuts over McCain's elite tax cuts, thanks.

Obama's really hammering McCain on his Iraq judgment, WMDs, Sunni/Shia misstatements. Also doing a good job of making some of McCain's assertions seem duplicitous.

McCain on Obama's support for strikes against terrorists in Pakistan: "You don't say that out loud." But it's OK for Palin to threaten Russia in a Charlie Gibson interview?

Nice comeback by Obama about McCain's "Bomb Bomb Iran" ditty.

McCain's faux earnestness grates on me. Also, his patronizing repetition of "What Obama doesn't understand..." when McCain has been so blindingly wrong on foreign policy.

McCain gets very animated talking about Iran and Israel. Judging by his body language, it's what he cares about most. Iran's nuclear ambitions are certainly a problem, but he has such a neocon boner about this, and I've had enough of neocons who get all excited about foreign policy and don't seem to give a damn about what's happening here.

Obama: good point about McCain's voting record against alternative energy.

Did McCain just say we shouldn't ever torture a prisoner again? He just voted for torture during the Republican primaries. Obama shouldn't give McCain credit for being anti-torture when he flip-flopped on it.

Obama also needs to hit McCain on his vote against Jim Webb's GI bill. Why isn't he doing that?

McCain is talking about flexibility of thinking. This is from a guy who doesn't use the internet.

***

So there you have it. Obama went on the offensive well at times, but he missed a few opportunities to zap McCain. I'd like to see a bit more bite next time. McCain seemed to attack more at the end, yet his stance on the issues often seemed out of step with the concerns of ordinary Americans. I'm not sure there was a clear "winner" as there was when Kerry faced Bush (again, not that it mattered). What do you think, esteemed readers?