” John McCain has an incredibly impressive biography. But his campaign has served him poorly, and this debate failed to lift McCain.”

1. A 70+ old biography (mostly his POW experience)does not necessarily help one almost 40 years later (Just like someone's criminal actions 40 years ago do not necessarily smear someone who was 8 years old at the time)

2. McCain served himself poorly–not necessarily his campaign

Tonight was a clear win for Obama, and by every metric. He won in the arena that supposedly played (again) to McCain's strengths. He won on the issues. And he won on personality – presidentiality, if you will. Again, while the first debate was a bit cloudy, with Obama a worthy competitor through being able to legitimately occupy the stage with McCain, tonight was a clear win for the Democrat.

McCain went into this debate two runs down, needing a home run just to get within striking distance of getting back into the game. Instead, he hit a double, ended the seventh inning with no score, the fans started filing out towards the stadium exits.

After the debate, McCain essentially needs a miracle to win. Not impossible, but highly improbable at this point. Of course, four weeks is an incredibly long time in politics, and in this 'anything goes' atmosphere, well, who knows? But don't count on it. “That One”, won.

Instead, the political discourse may turn to just how many seats in the Senate the Democrats will pick up. 55? 57? 58? Dare hope 60?

Oh, and beginning Wednesday morning I expect the McCain surrogates (but not necessarily McCain himself) to start going extra-slimy negative. If you think their lies, innuendo and thinly-veiled accusations were bad over the past couple of days, you haven't seen nothin' yet. We've only seen a taste of what's to come.

Shaun's got a few years on me so…well, I guess he's a little more jaded.