Round two of the presidential debates between Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama is over.
How did they do?
The town hall format was seen as an advantage for McCain. Did he live up to expectations?
Obama has been gaining an edge in many battleground states. Did he do anything to undermine or enhance his small lead?
Did they focus enough on the issues? Were undecided voters swayed?
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- Photo credit: Reuters/Carlos Barria

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185 comments so far
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Obama won!
- Posted by moorleeAs for Mc SAme, Surge Surge is the only thing that he thinks is his major achievement. It is just like saying I burned the house and found a good “strategy” to contain it :). idiot! “THIS ONE” needs to be kicked out in this election
McCain won! No contest……
- Posted by ChrisObama, easiy.
- Posted by Eloise NymanOBama Won again !
- Posted by RobertNobody won. I heard absolutely nothing different. The debate was status quo, and nothing new was learned.
Entertainment? Sure. A good use of my (and America’s) time? Not really.
- Posted by jnaliObama clearly won. McCain is a bad joke for the presidency.He will be worse than George Bush!
- Posted by AYO ABRAHAMAfter the debates, I opened my ballot envelope and voted for Obama! McCain, thanks to Palin, lost my vote with this week’s ferocious attacks with no substance on issues.
- Posted by Beverly from Colorado SpringsBarack Hussein Obama only know and understand the surface of the picture. He is too dangerous to lead a country. Too bad that the U.S media networks filters the news and favorite Obama for their gains. The sad part is that Americans are buying that!!!
- Posted by vietoYou people don’t get it. Obama just contradicted himself over and over. Liberals are following Obama like a puppy follows the dog catcher to doggie hell! I wrote a blog post about Obama’s contradictions, but I’m sure liberals will tell me how stupid I am, and how I am wrong with the same old language, “Change!”
http://averagepolitics.wordpress.com/200 8/10/07/debate-winner-obama-or-mccain/
- Posted by Nate StockardNothing in this debate will change any minds already made up. To the extent that John McCain needed to score points in order to blunt Obama’s recent surge in the polls, he lost.
- Posted by John ZbeskoI guess Obama won, but wasn’t that convincing. Mc Cain was stuck in the past and unable to make his point. He kept repeating “my friends” to the audience and left promptly after the debate whereas Obama stayed and talked to everyone…
- Posted by DexMcCain’s platform was a draw, which technically means Obama won
- Posted by SarahFunny that time was my anti-spam word.
I feel like Obama spent more time on the issues than McCain did. I felt like McCain was in more of a desperate attack mode, whereas I felt calmness and real answers coming from Obama.
I thought the town hall format was great and I wish that there were many, many of them before the election.
- Posted by DaveMcCain won! Obama wants to pay more for those that don’t want to work. What a loser!!!!
- Posted by JsincThe debate was a disappointment. Brokaw was unable to manage it and, instead of staying in the background like Gwen Ifill, made himself into a distraction by his carping about the format.
Both candidates seemed tired; McCain looked terrible. They were both effective in pounding on their respective messages. Obama maintained his cool while McCain seemed frenetic. It was telling that his attempts at humor fell completely flat with the audience.
I’d give the debate to Obama by a small margin based on the more substantive content of his responses.
- Posted by KateObama won by effectively countering McCain’s distortions of his record and proposals. He demonstrated a firmer grasp of today’s economic realities and their origins in deregulatory policies that McCain has long supported, and his views on foreign and military policy match up better with those of our generals, former secretaries of state, and oujr allies than McCain’s do.
- Posted by Daniel ZimmermanMcCain won the debate because he had clear and decisive answers. Obama focuses too much on emotion, and his overbearing insistence on ignoring time constraints was annoying.
- Posted by Caren IppolitoObama won….. no doubt….
- Posted by Harry Ingramthe issues have been clear after the first debate.
this one just repeated same old rhetoric from both sides in a different format.
it was an improvement over the first debate for mccain in that he seemed more relaxed.
however, i dont want another republican in the white house for atleast 2 terms.
- Posted by scottafter that i will reconsider.
Obama won!
- Posted by Khadar