MORNING READ

With the final debate in the books, bloggers on both sides agree that John McCain didn’t do enough to change the race. On Wednesday, Barack Obama used his cool to deflect attacks by McCain, who didn’t help himself with his body language, according to liberal bloggers. McCain may have won the debate by putting Obama on the defensive, but he failed to follow up his attacks with a knockout blow, according to conservative bloggers. The star of the debate wasn’t Obama or McCain but “Joe the Plumber,” bloggers write.

While McCain was seen grimacing, grunting and rolling his eyes at the debate, Obama kept his cool and didn’t get rattled by attacks, writes Daily Kos’s Trapper John. McCain came across as condescending, just like Vice President Al Gore did during a presidential debate in 2000, writes MyDD’s Jonathan Singer. McCain’s “contemptuous” body language and his attacks on Obama for ties to Weather Underground member William Ayers and ACORN was just more of the same failed strategy he and President Bush have stubbornly followed, writes The Huffington Post’s Arianna Huffington. There’s already evidence that Obama won the debate; snap polls from CBS and CNN and a Fox News focus group went for Obama, just like they had in previous debates, notes Political Animal’s Steve Benen.

McCain won Tuesday by putting Obama on the defensive, but he didn’t follow up attacks on Obama for not repudiating the remarks of Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.) and for suggesting that Ayers was just an educator, writes Townhall’s Matt Lewis. McCain was good, but he lacked the killer instinct and the contempt for Obama that would have allowed him to really go after the Democrat, writes The Corner’s Mark Steyn. According to Contentions’ Jennifer Rubin, McCain is handicapped in debates because he relies more on emotion than on marshalling evidence. At least one conservative blogger, RedState’s Erick Erickson, thinks that McCain “mopped the floor” Obama. Erickson wrote that Obama looked annoyed Tuesday and could be in danger of losing his lead in polls just like President Jimmy Carter did in the final days of the 1980 election.

McCain tried to use “Joe the Plumber,” an Ohio voter that Obama spoke to this week, to show that Obama’s proposal to repeal tax cuts for Americans making more than $250,000 a year would hurt regular Americans. McCain did better by talking about Joe than Obama did by talking about mega-investor Warren Buffett, writes Townhall’s Amanda Carpenter. But it’s not clear whether Joe would see a tax increase because he may not make more than $250,000, a salary higher than most Americans’, writes The Plank’s Jonathan Cohn. Joe the Plumber, whose real name is Joe Wurzelbacher, told ABC News that Obama’s tax plan “infuriates” him and made clear that he doesn’t like a progressive tax code of any kind.

FROM THE BLOGS:
Obama Cool – Trapper John, Daily Kos
McCain’s Eye Rolls – Jed L, Daily Kos
McCain Like Gore in 2000 – Jonathan Singer, MyDD
Debate Polls – Steve Benen, Political Animal
McCain’s Losing Strategy – Arianna Huffington, Huffington Post
Just Surly And Contemptuous – Josh Marshall, TalkingPointsMemo
McCain Won, But Didn’t Do Enough – Matt Lewis, Townhall.com
I Guess Barry Decided He Already Won – Erick Erickson, RedState
The Good Old Days – Mark Steyn, The Corner
Handicaps Himself As Salesman – J. Rubin, Contentions
What Joe Doesn’t Know – Stanley Kurtz, The Corner
Joe The Plumber Same As Joe Six-Pack? – Jonathan Cohn, The Plank
Joe: Obama Tax Plan ‘Infuriates Me’ – Teddy Davis, Political Radar
Go Joe! (And John) – Amanda Carpenter, Townhall.com

OTHER NEWS SOURCES:
McCain Deals No Lethal Blows in Final Debate – Los Angeles Times
Aggressive Underdog v. Cool Counterpuncher – Washington Post
McCain Attacks, But Obama Stays Steady – New York Times
Debate Sees An Aggressive McCain And A Cool Obama – The Hill