1) Mcain mentioning a few times how many earmarks Obama has requested. I hadn’t heard the number before and it was astonishing, and Obama ddn’t deny it. And when Obama said he suspended earmarks, McCain reminded America that it was after he started his campaign. I thought that was a powerful point. McCain’s point was to make America question whether he would really decrease spending, given his record on earmarks.

2) Lehrer kept trying to get the candidates to say what they would have to give up due to the economic crisis. McCain didn’t sound different than he’s always sounded, because he’s always made cutting spending a major theme of his campaign. Obama, on the other hand, answered the question by listing all of the things he would not cut. Again, that was not very reassuring that Obama would actually cut spending. You say McCain’s only answer to the economy question was earmarks. But the specific question was how to decrease spending, not the economy in general (that was a different question were I don’t think his emphasis was earmarks)

Now, I’m not saying McCain won. Obama had his moments too. I’m just pointing these out because the media is mostly ignoring them.

Oh, and I found it very annoying that Lehrer kept saying, “I’m just trying to get you to talk to each other” but then cut them off when they tried to respond to each other’s points, and subtly admonished them for taking too much time on each topic.