ABSTRACT
Debates in general are last minute pitches in prime time to persuade undecided voters. These voters are looking for a reason to vote for one of the candidates, or a reason to vote against the other. The debate did for some undecided and independents with both, the theatrics leading to it by Senator John McCain, and by the demeanor of both candidates on stage, was to establish the presidential credibility of Senator Barack Obama. Senator McCain's behavior the week preceding the debate—reacting and counter-reacting to the financial market's melt-down—seemed closer to that of a loose cannon than to that of a maverick. The debate was carefully controlled by Senator Obama who avoided the baiting that Senator McCain continuously used in order to try to elicit an angry response. Senator McCain's homeowner bailout program proposed during the Belmont University debate is directed to the reinforcement of one of the fundamentals of the economy: home ownership.
