I was impressed with both men; their comments and remarks were predominantly substantive.

More than Obama, John McCain resorted to continuous slashes at his opponents, couching many of his remarks in ad hominem terms. But both men spoke well. McCain was the frostier of the two, but neither of them was brilliantly humane or warm.

McCain's familiarity with the world as a puzzle of threats and military maneuvers contributed strongly to his various positions, but my sense was that he overplayed the weary-soldier-from-endless-war card. Obama was stronger in balancing the needs of the nation economically alongside of the military needs of the nation.

McCain asserted a lot of military truisms for which I do not believe there is as much truth as he would like to pretend, and used them to create the vision of a dangerous world riddled with threats which he is uniquely qualified to deal with.

Obama, in contrast, was fully aware of the situations John referred to, spoke about them knowledgeably, but declined to compound them into a picture of a world fraught only with danger. As such, he was much stronger in implications of opportunity for constructive change.

It was a good tug of war, and both men carried themselves with intelligence and dignity. Obama stayed very much down to earth and McCain only flubbed once, in a minor way, when talking about Ahmadinajad.

I will be most interested to see the feedback across the country in the morning.