McCain fails to nail Obama

Republican loses golden chance to wrest momentum as Obama wins second presidential debate

WASHINGTON: John McCain is running out of time to halt Barack Obama’s momentum after their second presidential debate ended on Tuesday without a “game changing” moment for the Republican, who is now fighting an increasingly uphill battle.

With their third and last debate to follow next week, and less than a month until Election Day, Obama hits the campaign trail on Wednesday ahead in polls and a slew of battleground states.

The two candidates clashed on the economy, Iraq, Pakistan and Iran — and often found ways to criticise each other in a “town hall” setting where they fielded questions from ordinary voters — but it was a format that left the dynamic of the race unchanged.
Snap polls by US television networks awarded the debate to Obama. CNN Opinion Research put the debate in the Obama column by a margin of 54% to 30%. A CBS News poll of undecided voters gave the contest to Obama 29% to 27%. Going into the debate, the Gallup Poll daily tracking survey showed Obama leading McCain by 9 percentage points, 51 42, his largest lead over McCain.

Obama managed to personalise the economic discussion by remarking that drivers in Nashville, Tennessee, where the debate was held, were paying $3.80 a gallon to fill their tanks. There was also a bad moment for Mr McCain when he referred to Mr Obama in a dismissive manner as “the one” — a phrase some commentators seized on as a racial slight. Talking about a Bush administration bill, Mr McCain gestured towards Mr Obama and said: “You know who voted for it? You might never know. That one.”

The task now facing McCain, in the absence of a stunning unexpected event that changes the trajectory of the race, is to persuade enough swing voters that Obama is a reckless, inexperienced and untrustworthy candidate.