The time for nuance has ended...

[misanthrope]

...Most of us have broken into our nearly evenly divided groups of supporters.

There is a small portion of the electorate, less than 10 percent, that should be the focus right now. Notoriously, voters undecided this late in the campaign don't react to reason or partisanship, but more to emotion and style.

Tonight was an opportunity to get in a death blow to the McCain-Palin camp, to send them really reeling after an abysmal week. Obama failed to provide that blow and they are getting a chance to regain their breath.

Obama needs to learn to be more concise. Speak in "AP style," think about ink. Give answers that encapsulate ideas in the shortest terms. If elaboration is required, let it come secondly. Don't bog down in details.

McCain came out tonight and put Obama on the defensive from the beginning. It kept him on a par with the younger man all evening. Obama's best shot tonight would have been making McCain lose his temper.

It wouldn't be hard. Use a line like, "This guy can't even tell the difference between Sunni and Shia without his companion whispering in his ear." I guarantee you, the old Navy man would have come unglued.

Obama needs to think about who the specific target is for the next five weeks. It's not anyone reading these boards. It's not those steeped in or even strongly curious about issues.

It's people like Sarah Palin.

Think simple. Be concise. Give the impression of clarity and strength and vigor above all else.

[Booster]

1. I tend to agree with you, but get ready to get flamed.

[Beregond2]

2. To be any more concise, he would have had to use sign language.

He WON OVERWHELMINGLY WITH THE UNDECIDEDS. He really doesn't need to be a Reader's Digest version of himself. HE'S WINNING.

[misanthrope]

5. Obama must be polling ahead by...

...close to 10 points on Nov. 2 to have a shot in this. Remember what those same polls said in 2000 and 2004.

As Chris Rock said tonight, "You can't beat a white man, you gotta knock him out."

I thought he had a tendency to get distracted because his mind was moving so fast. While it's a blessing in some ways, it can be a problem when expressing yourself off-the-cuff. I'm serious about him needing to have learned to write AP style. It can help if you have a mind capable of holding several trains of thought simultaneously and makes you communicate "tighter."

[RoyGBiv]

3. Oh good grief

[magellan]

4. I agree

Let's not go through this again, the "polite" Dem vs. the "tough" Repub. There aren't enough high-minded thinkers left in this country for that to carry the day in November. Time to take the gloves off and show McCain for the lying, flip-flopping, flatulent POS he is.

[fulllib]

6. That's old school talk

It no longer works. The American public has learned what it gets when they vote for someone "like them" or that displays toughness. The past eight years has taught them what that gets.

Now they want to put someone in that knows what they are talking about. I cut out for it.elieve they recognize that it is a different world and we need someone that is cut out for it.