"For it's ONE! TWO! THREE! strikes you're out..."

Another one for the books... The third, and final, debate between John McCain and Barack Obama before the 2008 presidential election was tonight. This one was critical for the candidates, as its the last time many undecided voters will hear from the candidates before the election, which is less than 3 weeks away.

McCain had a lot at stake; the debate has been regarded as a "make or break" moment for his campaign based on current polls and the overall condition the campaign has been in recently. How did it end up?

Well, McCain definitely showed that he deserves his latest self-given label: fighter. He was on the offensive all night, he didn't hesitate to bring up Obama's associations with Bill Ayers and ACORN, he boldly questioned Obama about some of his proposals, and he directly addressed Obama's comparisons between McCain and Bush by suggesting he should have run 4 years ago if he wanted to run a campaign against Bush's policies. But he also seemed a bit more of an attack dog than a composed political figure - especially based on his physical demeanor alone. His eyes were very red, watery, and he was constantly blinking, he rolled his eyes at Obama, he did his odd little tongue-jab move numerous times, he interrupted Obama often, corrected the moderator when he asked about climate control ("climate change," he interjected), and he "sneered" (in the words of Anderson Cooper) quite often.

Obama certainly appeared to be on the defensive for the beginning of the debate, but he seemed to handle it well. When addressed about Ayers and ACORN, he clearly explained his relationships with both, their scandals, and how the two do not relate to one another - and how neither Ayers nor ACORN relate to his campaign. He didn't fare so well when McCain accused him of never standing up to Democratic party leaders; his examples were weak and somewhat stretched, which McCain told him were unconvincing later on in the debate. However, he eloquently addressed the issues McCain challenged him on (McCain even complimented his eloquence twice, although in a very sarcastic tone that accused him of being misleading).

Moderator Bob Schieffer asked some questions I was not expecting - but I was so glad they were addressed. These questions included topics like the negative, attacking tones of both campaigns, why each of their running mates would make a better Vice President than the other, and (gasp) abortion. McCain referred to himself as "proudly pro-life" and that he thinks Roe v. Wade should be overturned and abortion laws should be decided by the state, and Obama said he believes abortion is a moral issue best decided personally by women and not the government, especially not the state.

In regard to the extremely hostile ads in the media and supporters at rallies, Obama accused McCain of releasing nothing but negative ads in the media (which CNN.com's post-debate fact check said was true from Sept. 28 to the present time). Interestingly, McCain defended the supporters at his rallies as "patriotic" and some of the best people in the country - even though some of his supporters have caused the media to give him a little flack because of their extreme behavior.

McCain did ALRIGHT... but I certainly don't think whipped Obama's you know what. He was supposed to deliver an amazing campaign message and win over thousands of undecided voters if he wanted to revive his chances to win. He mentioned Joe the Plumber WAY too many times, he didn't get a clear campaign point across - and he kept claiming that Sarah Palin's child has autism when the damn kid has Downs syndrome (way to pay attention, Johnny) - among other things.

Quoting Hillary Clinton's post-debate interview with Wolf Blitzer - I'm getting more and more excited to see "President Obama" in the White House.