It's cliche I know but the fact that something like this could even happen is one of the more amazing aspects of American democracy. In less than three weeks there will be an election and yet both candidates can get up in front of so many power players (and cameras!) and crack jokes about each other is pretty amazing considering the stakes.

McCain was certainly in his element but I think Obama put in a surprisingly strong performance as well. I thought the jabs at Guiliani were absolutely classic!! McCain seems a little peeved at Olbermann, no?

I find the juxtaposition of the roast to the substantive tone of the debates to be fascinating. We not only expect competence but humor from our presidential candidates. 

When I read a conservative writing the following:

"OK, that's over. And so is the McCain campaign. He was more aggressive than he's been so far, and he came close to landing some blows on Obama. But he never really connected, and for the most part this debate was as platitudinous as they all have been. McCain came off as sour, agitated and petulant. Obama -- man, nothing rattles that guy. McCain was two tics away from a vein-popping "You can't handle the truth!" Jack Nicholson moment, I felt. At one point, I thought: Which one of these men would I want in the White House when the 3 a.m. phone call comes in?"

I felt like the argument that Hillary's kitchen sink approach would make Obama a better candidate was fully vindicated. My apologies to anybody with whom I argued otherwise at the time.

I've been a long-time supporter of Obama in this campaign but tonight I really felt for the first time that people who weren't or who were very ambivalent to him would have had a moment just like the one described above where they just imagined which of these two men they would want in charge during a crisis. I think everyone has commented on just how angry McCain really seemed tonight. He managed to not jump across the table but barely. Just barely. His veins were popping and he was clearly taking deep breaths (some caught by the mic) just to calm down. If a presidential debate gets you THAT upset, what about a real crisis where lives or our nation's safety is at stake?

I feel that quite a few people thought 'whoa, at 3am that crazy bastard might nuke somebody!' and maybe, just maybe had a thought similar to this one expressed much earlier in the campaign by Retired Rear Adm. John Hutson, who has been a Republican his entire adult life, but who now supports Obama, put it this way about facing a national security crisis: "When everybody else goes nuts, the president of the United States needs to get cooler and cooler."

There can no longer be any question that McCain doesn't fit the job description and for quite a few Americans who were on the fence about whether Obama does, I think tonight really will settle it. One of these men felt 'Presidential' and had a certain calmness that would bode well when the shit hits the fan while the other quite possibly WAS the shit hitting the fan!

Again, thank you Hillary for framing the question in such a clear way and though it didn't play out the way you intended I think having the question put in that way was a service to the voters tonight.