The 2nd presidential debate

6:14pm - I love how McCain is reeeeeeeeaching to somehow blame our entire financial crisis on "Obama and his cronies." ROFLOL

6:18 - My initial impression: McCain isn't all that stellar in the townhall setting.

6:22 - Let me rephrase that... McCain seems to be falling flat and failing to connect at all...

6:24 - The more I watch McCain, the more he just seems old. He has repeated himself a coouple of times now and had to ask Tom Brokaw to repeat a question. And then he only addressed part of that question. I think he's had too many of these townhalls with friendly audiences, and he's not used to having someone else in the ring with him that is quick on his feet.

6:27 - Obama is calling on America to rise to our challenges just as we have in the past. I think he's more effective when he is speaking positively than when he is challenging McCain.

6:31 - OMG! The Democrat raised the issue of 9/11 before the Republican! Who would have predicted that? But he did on it in the context of national sacrifice and making a difference for our future rather than as a scare tactic.

6:37 - If I were playing a debate drinking game, I'd pick "drink every time McCain flatlines on CNN." I think I'd already be well on my way!

6:42 - McCain comes across as a one trick pony... he keeps falling back on the same rhetorical crutches but he doesn't really say much.

6:44 - While I agree that increased use of nuclear energy is probably going to need to be part of our future, I don't think talking it up the way McCain just did won him many new "friends."

6:45 - Obama keeps upping the ante, now talking about green energy as driving our economy the way the computer has driven productivity gains in the past.

6:48 - OMG McCain just referred to Obama as "that one," pointing without looking at him. Whoa. I can't imagine that that went over well with independent voters.

(Video link)

6:53 - McCain is struggling to scare America about Obama. But judging from CNN's pool of uncommitted Ohio voters, he's failing miserably.

6:56 - Obama: In a country is wealthy as ours, healthcare is a right.

Obama is wiping the floor with McCain tonight.

7:07 - I've been holding off on saying this until the debate is over, but my sense is that tonight was McCain's last chance to shake up the dynamic of this race. And unless he pulls out a miracle in the next 20 minutes, he has lost the election with his performance tonight.

7:13 - McCain is trying to equate Obama's willingness to take out Osama Bin Laden in Pakistan with an attack on the nation of Pakistan. And it's just not flying... McCain sounds like the dove!

7:15 - And in another interesting turn, Obama demanded time to respond to McCain, while McCain asked Brokaw for that privilege.

7:33 - I've noticed that several times the women in CNN's undecided voter pool have hit the top limit on their support for Obama.

7:34 - It's over. The debate and, I suspect, McCain's chances to overtake Obama.

Andrew Sullivan's comments here; Ezra Klein's here.

Postscript: McCain left the debate hall after five minutes; Obama remained and spoke to the audience for over twenty.

Post-postscript: Post-debate quick polls here and here.