Some personal observations from last night's mostly predictable event in Belmont.

* The best answer: "Health care is a right."

* Do you think Sen. Biden is going to have anything to say about Sen. Obama's opinion of Delaware's banking laws? I do credit the comments as a refreshing breath of honesty.

* What is up with the League of Democracies? McCain reinforces my pet theory that we are reliving the presidential election of 1920 every time he mentions this. I don't know which I find stranger: his repeated references to it or everyone else's complete ability to ignore it as if "that's just something Grandpa starts saying when he gets worked up."

* Someone please tell McCain that he is not funny and should quit trying "off the cuff" jokes.

"Who would you pick as your new treasury secretary?"

"Not you, Tom."

That was a real rib tickler. The only thing funnier would have been if he had suggested someone like the CEO of Ebay to become the most powerful member of the cabinet. Oh, wait...

More after the break...

* I miss Tim Russert and am sad he could not be here to moderate the debate as Brokaw was a disappointment in the role.

* The debate was not really all that groundbreaking and was mostly a chance for both candidates to rehash their favorite stump speech lines. I'd favor doing away with the pseudo-town hall debates in the future and focusing on traditional debate formats. When you use the audience question as a convenient segue to a possibly related topic, I think it is insulting to that audience member and to the electorate in general. Both candidates were quite guilty of this throughout the night.

* I was disappointed that neither candidate even addressed the changes in the economy that have occurred since the last debate in Oxford. Granted, everything is quite fluid and changeable right now, but how about even a passing nod at the Dow indicator or the actions in Europe? It was as if they had written their responses before the Oxford debate and couldn't be bothered to memorize new answers in time for Nashville.

* I loved the "sacrifice" question as it is one I have been asking since 2001. Obama came the closest to answering this question. At least he tiptoed up to the answer with his reference to Bush's famous "go shopping" remarks. I remarked to the television my disappointment that neither candidate acknowledged that things were very likely to get worse economically before they get better and that we better be getting ready as individuals and as a government. Obama hinted at it again with his comment that the bailout is the beginning of the solution not the end of the problem. My wife prudently suggested that neither candidate necessarily wanted to scare the bejeezus out of voters. However, I think a little honesty about what we can and should expect to endure would be a tad bit refreshing.

* Neither candidate really answered Lindsey Trella's question about selling health care as a commodity. If you parse what the candidates did say, you could extrapolate that Obama would say "no" and McCain would say "yes." So, why not just say that? I thought it was an interesting and insightful question, especially in light of the ongoing investment banking crisis.

* McCain is attempting to reinvent himself as a child of a single parent because his father-- an four-star admiral in the U.S. Navy-- was away in the service? I'm not trying to diminish the strain that military service puts on a family, but to be fair about it there is quite a difference in McCain's "single mother upbringing" and Obama's. For starters, McCain's "single mother" still received the quite comfortable salary from her husband's job as a high-ranking officer in the U.S. Navy. It's not as if his father simply disappeared and offered no support at all. In fact, it is the exact opposite. Even in the early days of John S. McCain Jr.'s career, Sen. McCain (John S. McCain III) and his mother still were able to fall back on the support of Sen. McCain's grandfather-- John S. McCain Sr.-- who also happened to be a four-star admiral in the U.S. Navy. (The McCains are the only father-son four-star admirals in the U.S. Navy's history.) I would think the infrastructure and finances available to "single mom" McCain were quite different than those available to Obama's mother. All in all it's just another sad attempt by the candidate to annex Obama's platform (and now his personal history) as if it is his own. I read that as a sign of a weak candidacy. It has nothing of its own to offer, so it pretends to be the other guy.

*The last question, "What don't you know and how will you learn it?" was interesting. I don't know what I don't know and neither do Obama or McCain. If I were either candidate I might have mentioned that the best way to learn what you don't know is to surround yourselves with advisers and cabinet officers who have the best ability to give you the advice you need rather than the advice you want. This alone would mark a sea change in either administration from the present one. I didn't disagree with Obama's observation (parroted by McCain moments later) that the biggest unknown to him is "what the future holds." It's a bit of a wimp out but it's not false.

* I was happy that Obama actually chose to list his priority order of projects. Too often the GOP claims the Democratic candidates want to "do everything." This time around it seems that McCain was the character unwilling to admit that items must be prioritized. I don't think this is a reflection of his management style. His academy years taught him to prioritize and his experience in the Congress should also have reinforced and improved his prioritizing ability. Instead, McCain's answer ("We can do it all!") is more, I think, a reflection of a candidate desperately seeking an opportunity to connect with the voters.

Faced with an ever bluer electoral map, McCain swings once again in a new direction. He wants to run a Democratic style campaign (although those never seem to win a lot) without realizing that the Democratic candidate isn't running in that style. McCain seems too interested on finding out, and saying, what he thinks the voters want to hear. He has not realized that in times of economic distress the voters are not interested in their own echoes. I feel sorry for him in some ways. Eight years ago I could have supported him (and felt he was the best candidate the GOP had at the time). He has squandered those eight years attempting to remake himself into a new improved package that he thinks the voters must be looking for. He seems to be always a few steps behind the curve. He quit being John McCain and hitched his wagon to George W. Bush. When that no longer looks to be a winning strategy, he has attempted to become Obama.

I'll bring change to Washington! I was raised by an almost single mother! I'm surprised he hasn't claimed to be of mixed race and that his middle name is actually Saddam.

Look! Today I'm a Christian conservative, you can count on me to establish a respect for authority in Washington! Today I'm a maverick anti-authority rebel! Today, I represent the mainline center! Today, I want you to practice personal responsibility! Today, I want you to have it all! Why won't you vote for me, dammit? What do you want from me?