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So Many Questions, So Little Time Left

I recently asked Tucker Carlson, "What do you think the undecideds are waiting for? What haven't they heard yet?" His response was tinged with the kind of acerbic and colorful wit I expect of him. "If you're undecided at this stage in the election, you don't deserve to vote."

While it's unlikely anyone will be moved to forcibly deny the still-confused or unconvinced voters their rightful place in the voting booth come November 4th, it is hard to believe there are still some Americans who legitimately don't know if they favor John McCain or Barack Obama. We've been campaigning along with them for what has felt like a grueling eternity. The conventions are but a memory. Hillary feels like a year ago. Who can even remember the primaries?

But at the first presidential debate in New York since 1960, held at Hofstra University, all undecided eyes were on moderator Bob Schieffer of CBS News, who -- it was hoped -- would ask the very questions fence-sitters so desperately need answered.

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It's my feeling that the three presidential debates will have a minimal effect on the outcome of the election. McCain fought at least to a draw each time. We may see some movement in the polls over the next week, but any debate effect will fade out of the numbers by the time to vote.

The race will be won in ads, interviews, and on the trail.

I think debates are generally ineffective because if you say one thing about your opponent, all he really has to say is, "Uh-uh". And unless you, as a candidate, are willing to go Adlai Stevenson on them and break out documents, photographs, and/or DNA results, the viewer is left with taking one man's word over another. This is a bad tactic, generally speaking. Whenever it's been tried in the modern era, it's come across as bad showmanship at it's best, and outright bullying at it's worst.

The fact is this: McCain may have won a couple of the debates on points, but these aren't about points, they are about style. And Obama never lost on style.

As a McCain supporter, we should just be glad there aren't anymore debates. If anybody had a better chance to make a "debate mistake," in one, it was McCain, and he didn't.