That One.

As I blogged earlier, I thought McCain won the first debate. I thought the second debate, because it wasn't a debate, was a draw. The third debate? Obama dominated it, from start to finish. He was crisp, on-point, and did everything he needed to. To use a cliched sports analogy, he let the game come to him.

The three moments that stood out for me were:

#1) A powerful, heartfelt moment...

In a country as wealthy as ours, for us to have people who are going bankrupt because they can't pay their medical bills -- for my mother to die of cancer at the age of 53 and have to spend the last months of her life in the hospital room arguing with insurance companies because they're saying that this may be a pre-existing condition and they don't have to pay her treatment, there's something fundamentally wrong about that. --Obama

#2) The best come-back of the night...

Now, Sen. McCain suggests that somehow, you know, I'm green behind the ears and, you know, I'm just spouting off, and he's somber and responsible. Sen. McCain, this is the guy who sang, "Bomb, bomb, bomb Iran," who called for the annihilation of North Korea. That I don't think is an example of "speaking softly." This is the person who, after we had -- we hadn't even finished Afghanistan, where he said, "Next up, Baghdad." -- Obama

#3) And the moment when McCain's temper finally cracked...

By the way, my friends, I know you grow a little weary with this back-and-forth. It was an energy bill on the floor of the Senate loaded down with goodies, billions for the oil companies, and it was sponsored by Bush and Cheney. You know who voted for it? You might never know. That one.

And this performance was BADLY needed, as the polls that came out today (pre-debate) show Obama's support slipping, in fairly dramatic fashion:

Rasmussen: O+6 (was O+9)
Hotline: O+1 (was O+2)
Zogby: O+2 (was O+4)
Battleground: O+4 (was O+6)

That's right, Obama's lead slipped, on average, 23% across the board. Palin is on her game and in full attack mode. Obama said he wouldn't let himself get swift-boated, but he has been silent on the Ayers thing, and I believe it's because he is going with the "ignore it" plan. That same plan cost Kerry the election.