Like the economy, the debate turned dark and dour - International Herald Tribune

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http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/10/08/america/assess.php

Neither presidential candidate was selling "morning in America."

The presidential debate on Tuesday night was remarkable for the dourness of its mood, for the frequently subdued demeanors of the candidates even as they tore into each other, which they did with somewhat less vigor and venom than expected, given how little time remains until Election Day, given how nasty the campaign had turned in recent days.

The debate - the second of three, and the only one to be conducted in a town-hall style - came on a day when the stock market closed nearly 1,700 points lower than it had on the day of their first debate. And even back then, Senator Barack Obama was already talking of the country's worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.

Now the situation looks gloomier still, with markets in other continents tumbling - with a world of hurt at hand. And the sort of can-do, feel-good, rah-rah exuberance that candidates sometimes bring to these debates and forums was in conspicuously short supply.

"I'm going to ask the American people to understand that there are some programs we're going to have to eliminate," Senator John McCain said at one point, and he said it not as a defiant assertion of waste but as a rueful acceptance of reality.

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