I've never been so entertained by political debates in my life, but I'm still glad the Obama/McCain debates are over. (I can't imagine wanting to watch them if I were a Republican, but with Obama in the quarterback role, it's been fun for me.)

My 22 year old daughter, who is a huge Obama fan but who hasn't been watching the news the last few weeks, said she feels sorry for McCain after watching tonight's performance. I thought it was fascinating that she thought McCain did a better job of apologizing about his campaign's "dirty" moments, and she wished Obama had done the same. I get it only because she hasn't been paying attention lately. Without the context of what's been going on, I can see how Obama's coolness could be interpreted by some viewers as lack of remorse (for something he didn't do!).

For anyone who wondered if Obama was laughing at the Acorn issue, I think he was. With good reason. Have you seen the video of McCain at a large conference praising Acorn workers? He's got a lot of gall to try to try to frame Acorn's limitations as an Obama flaw.

Oh well... Three cheers for Obama. He might not be the best debater, but I think with each debate against McCain he got better--clearer, more direct, more persuasive. I thought he was pretty amazing, actually. I know we won't always agree with him on everything once he's president, but I still will be so happy to hear Hail To the Chief over the next eight years or so...

My earlier post disappeared. Was I too premature in suggesting how nice it will be to hear "Hail to the Chief" over the next eight years?

I thought Obama was excellent--if he didn't start out a great debater, I think he sure is one of the best now. Just wanted to add my little piece of joy to this Salon community!

I know I join with thousands of other readers in saying that I think Glenn has a lot of class and integrity. I was immediately glad to see his challenge of the journalistic ethics of the NYT article about Cindy McCain that was published earlier today.

Reading through the readers' posts, I was also impressed by the response by cjackb, and think his/her response is worth repeating here (below). I have found myself wondering often how much/why character is such an issue in American politics. It doesn't seem to me that the solution is all or nothing. Not sure what the "solution" is (the metaphor itself isn't quite right), but I think the topic is definitely worth continued dialogue and consideration.

Yes, everything in your last paragraph was spot on. But a little devil's advocate if I may: As long as the nebulous political trait of "character" is fair game, isn't everything fair game? Because character is in the eye of the beholder, and until all puritanism has been purged from our society, as it has in Europe, then people are absolutely going to care about whether Cindy McCain is a good mother. Why would John McCain marry a sub-par mother? Doesn't he want his kids to have as much "character" as he does? Similarly, the non-traditional marriage of Bill and Hillary raised all sorts of red flags among the Christian Right. Like it or not, journalism has become more democratic since the Cronkite era. The old news actually dared to decide what was in the "public interest". 24-hour cable news, however, is plugged into public opinion and therefore knows exactly how many weeks to devote to Anna Nicole Smith. Isn't that great!? --cjackb

...only because he brought them up, and he was thinking about race when he brought them up, not because I can make sense out of his logic.

Divorce happens and families splinter. So Powell is getting a divorce from the Republican party--he's doing it cleanly (more cleanly than Joe Liebermann?). I'm sure if I were a Republican, I'd see it differently, but I find myself cringing at the heavy accusations of betrayal. He's always been in the middle--we didn't know which which party he formally aligned with when he was working for the Clinton administration--and then, of course, he was terribly used/exploited by Bush.

As far as I'm concerned, Colin Powell is a great man, and I like that he's behind/with Obama.

You did great Joan. I'm glad you're out there.

They kept at McCain in a way that surprised everyone, during a week when we were all outraged, but at a time when most of the MSM was still being polite. (They looked too easy on him to me, but I do think that McCain show was a watershed.)

Go gals!

1. What will Obama's popular vote margin be? 6 percentage points

2. How many Electoral College votes will Obama win? 346

3. How many seats will the Democrats gain (net) in the House? 19

4. How many seats will the Democrats gain (net) in the Senate? 6

Pick the winner in the following races:

5. William Russell (R)

6. Elwyn Tinklenberg (D)

7. Jim Martin (D)

8. Al Franken (D)

9. . Kay Hagan (D)

TIE-BREAKER:

What time (EST) will the presidential race be called? (For the purposes of the pool, we'll consider it called when any one of the three big cable networks or the Associated Press makes the announcement, whatever comes first.)

8:01 pm

1. What will Obama's popular vote margin be? 6 percentage points

2. How many Electoral College votes will Obama win? 346

3. How many seats will the Democrats gain (net) in the House? 19

4. How many seats will the Democrats gain (net) in the Senate? 6

Pick the winner in the following races:

5. William Russell (R)

6. Elwyn Tinklenberg (D)

7. Jim Martin (D)

8. Al Franken (D)

9. . Kay Hagan (D)

TIE-BREAKER:

What time (EST) will the presidential race be called? (For the purposes of the pool, we'll consider it called when any one of the three big cable networks or the Associated Press makes the announcement, whatever comes first.)

11:01 pm EST

Why not Hillary for State Department?