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At least in the areas that he needed to win. You have to realize that McCain was leading in three categories in the polls, experience, leadership readiness and foreign policy. Obama is the younger newer guy, people still see him as a bit of an unknown quantity and they have never been able to compare and contrast the two on the stage together like that. In prior situations like this the candidate who had they had reservations about almost always gained points just by showing up. Kennedy did with Nixon. Reagan with Carter. Bush with Gore. Kerry with Bush. Much of the battle is won just by showing up and holding your own while going toe to toe with the guy who is supposedly more knowledgable, more experienced and more ready to lead.
People looked at Obama tonight and saw a guy who looked like he could be president. That's important. And he was bound to get that anyway just by showing up and holding his own, which he more than accomplished.
Obama's ahead, he didn't need to knock McCain around the whole time, he needed to let people think he was ready to be a leader and had the knowledge on foreign policy to do so. He wins with even a tie because it allows him to ease any fears people may have had that this guy was a Dem version of Palin or a weak Dem caricature.
McCain needed to be ahead at this point. The debates were going to help Obama almost surely. This one did and he's put McCain on the ropes. It's almost over.
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