The debate

I made a decision regarding the debate. I would listen to it on the radio.

About a year ago, I decided I'd quit getting cable TV. I realized that pretty much all of my TV viewing was in the form of DVDs from Netflix. When I really wanted to see something that aired on TV, I could always find a clip on the Internet. So I figured, why pay 50 bucks a month for something I never used? Also, I never got around to picking up a set of rabbit-ears for my set, so to all intents and purposes, I don't have TV.

I could still have watched the debate, of course. MySpace made it available via streaming video.

But I'd been reading up on the famous televised debate between Kennedy and Nixon, which was a seminal moment in modern politics. I read that a lot of analysts who listened to it on the radio thought Nixon came off better. Kennedy, however, was so much more telegenic that he ended up the decisive winner.

I thought it might be interesting to simply listen for once, abandoning all concerns about tie color or who looked at the camera more.

I can't say I derived any great insights from my experiment. Obama sounded composed. McCain sounded somewhat less so, with distinct notes of peevishness frequently entering his speech.

I thought Obama came off better on economic issues, and McCain came across better on foreign policy.

If I was to judge it solely on the contents of the debate, I'd declare it a tie. But in a broader context, I'd give the edge to Obama.

Here's why. For the past week, I've been working on a project where I've been obliged to spend a lot of time traveling around York County, talking to people about their feelings regarding the presidential race.

Whenever I ask anyone -- regardless of political affiliation or demographic -- what's the most important issue, they all say "the economy." What I've found particularly interesting isn't just that they say it, but that they say it without a second of hesitation.

So for the time being, Obama seems to have the advantage on an issue of pressing importance to the people of York County (and the rest of the country too, I assume).

I say "for the time being" because I'm certain that as I'm writing this, McCain's strategists are hard at work on rectifying the situation. Stay tuned.