I thought Obama came across as more reflective and reasoned (duh!), while McCain for the most part came off as having his sound bites and zingers better rehearsed (except for one little segment where McCain did kind of have the uncomfortable Miss-Teen-S. Carolina look of discomfort on his face as he tried to answer a question he really had no answer for).

Question is, which will appeal more to the viewers/voters.   Barack is much more laid back and personable on camera than John Kerry was, but his answers may still be too 'nuanced' for the short-attention-span, emotion-based, low-information voter. McCain, for the most part, had more of that win-'em-over-without-really-informing-anyone Reagan type style and answer. You know -- the kind of thing where you are perceived as "winning" a "debate" by just smiling and sighing, "There you go again."

The CBS guys didn't really do much by way of tough follow-up questions. (E.g., no mention of the Keating 5 for McCain, no follow-ups about his shifting positions on torture, reproductive rights, off-shore drilling, support for the Bush agenda, etc., or on how his running mate's views on environmental and other issues differ from his.)   And I also don't think Obama presented his experiential qualifications for the Presidency as strongly as he could have.

I am concerned that, given the format of the upcoming debates, McCain's well-studied one-liners may have him come off as the "winner" -- at least in the eyes of most TV "pundits," and those folks will echo that opinion over and over, accompanied by whatever 10-sec. video clips they glom onto, till the public starts to buy it.