I had the debate on, but wasn’t watching closely — in fact, I was playing solitaire while listening with an ear to it. The bottom line is that Obama is like a Winky Wright — you simply can’t hurt him. He’s too good defensively. A fellow chessmaster might be able to out-box him, but McCain is no debate whiz. McCain needed a knockout, and he wasn’t going to get it. And in striving for it, he sounded far more conservative and doctrinaire than he has at any point in the last few weeks. His derision at protecting the “health of the mother” in abortion — though undoubtedly thrilling to the conservative base — is going to kill him with independent women.