Mid-debate mood check

I feel like McCain is doing surprisingly well:  he's on message and radiates conviction.    His sound bytes are well executed.  Aside from an apparent slight difficulty remembering his sound bytes, I feel like he's so far the more compelling debater.

On the ohter hand, that may be because my expectations for him were so low that I'd think he was winning unless he actually sat there and drooled onto the stage.

This article available online at:

http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2008/09/mid-debate-mood-check/4182/