Senator Obama just isn't wired that way. The guy is just a naturally cool individual. I would have liked to seen more emotion but that isn't going to happen. And apparently his cool demeanor in the face of the heat is working.

So I can't help but wonder if that will be what we see in the coming days, weeks and even months… that the GOP won't give Obama his due credit and will claim that Obama won (assuming he does) because this is an off year for Repiublicans- that everything worked against them.

What you mean to say is that the Republicans have finally screwed the pooch so badly that a black guy is likely to become president of the United States.

Lotus- I would be a charter member of the David Gergen fan club– he reminds me of the days before partisanship was the only guiding force in the nation's capital– and politicians and pundits behaved a little more like adults. I've been a fan of his since the '90's when he helped Bill Clinton recover from the disasterous advice he got from Dick Morris (who wanted him to keep lying about Monica).

At some point we have to realize how detrimental it has been for D's and R's to put party ahead of country. One thing I like about Obama, is that he appears to be able to give credit to his opponents as well as his allies.

SB- I see the GOP regrouping and returning to the conservative principles that they were never able to actually put into action. They don't work because of special interests and the fact that politicians have to bring home the bacon to show they have represented their district. It was all well and good to criticize federal spending and pork-laden bills when the Democrats were in charge before '94. Once they were in charge of both houses they did no better.

The no new taxes pledge is really the most ridiculous– because it ties the hands of our leadership and forces them to use deficit spending or ignore growing needs and problems.

I switched over to FOX to see what they were saying and their political analyst (sorry I don't know his name, but he sort of reminds me of the latino guy who won the presidency at the end of “The West Wing”) seemed to think that Obama was going to win. But this political analyst on FOX couldn't give any credit to Obama… This analyst said that it was the Democrats' year, and he even said that if Ronald Reagan had been sitting in McCain's chair, Reagan would not have done any better….

So I can't help but wonder if that will be what we see in the coming days, weeks and even months… that the GOP won't give Obama his due credit and will claim that Obama won (assuming he does) because this is an off year for Repiublicans- that everything worked against them.

It's sad if that happens because the GOP could be a great party if they had a leader who is able to redefine the party…. But if the GOP just licks their wounds and claims that it wasn't their year, then they won't take ownership for their own failures.

But the good part is getting to know the growing number of centrists, independents and moderates out there. Hopefully all this extreme partisan stuff will wear itself out and the majority of us can get down to the business of rebuilding our country, as you point out. There's just way too much to be done and too many enemies at our gate to give in to in-fighting. A house divided and all that.

In contrast, Obama seemed as though he had not even been paying attention when the GOP plastered his face on websites and compared him to Bin Laden. I thought he should have shown a little passion and hit back about the slurs.

McCain should realize that most Americans are not going to believe that Obama is a dangerous radical after they've watched him in three debates, and that they care more about the Dow than about a guy who was a terrorist 40 years ago. Obama is not going to make Ayres Secretary of the Dept of Education.

Obama did very well in the last half– I thought his answers on the education, health care and abortion were spot on, and they registered very well with the test audience at CNN.

Bennett and Castellanos liked it because Republicans always want their candidates to come on like gangbusters and kick a**– but that is not how the majority will perceive the final debate.