Campaign Trail

McCain's negativity

• Matthew Price
• 16 Oct 08, 04:11 AM GMT

EXTON, PENNSYLVANIA: So Joe made an appearance - several in fact. Does he make a difference, do you think? I noticed no-one picked up on him in the comments after yesterday's blog. Is tax important as an issue this election?

As for who won, the answer here in Pennsylvania is clear. The Phillies.

No, I'm not being trivial or flippant. John McCain wants to win Pennsylvania, and therefore needs his message to get across to people here.

But not as many as he would have liked were watching this debate, as so many in this state were watching a crucial baseball game.

Before the debate, we circled a few bars that had shown the first debates. The screens were focused on the game instead.

At one bar, a table of sensible middle-aged voters told me the game was the only thing they'd watch this evening. "Anyway, I've seen enough debates, I've made up my mind," one man said.

We spoke about negativity, and John McCain getting personal about Barack Obama recently.

"I've voted Republican. I supported John McCain in 2000 against Bush," one said. "I've always supported McCain. But when his campaign went negative, it's not him. I won't be voting for him."

Others felt the campaign had been taken over by the Republican party and they didn't like that, for them it tainted their opinion of "McCain-the-maverick".

One added: "He needs to talk about specifics."

Well he did tonight, but he also had his moments of negativity. When, though, he spoke about his experience, his desire to rein in government spending, his belief in cutting taxes, that will have gone down well with many voters.

I still feel though that, while he clearly had his best performance of all the debates, he doesn't lay out a coherent argument often enough. He seems to get halfway through a great point, countering Obama, and then gets sidelined.

Another interesting factor I came across today while asking Republicans what they wanted from this debate, and what they want from Mr McCain: some don't seem to want Sarah Palin.

The (Republican) women I spoke to - many, not all - say they probably will vote for McCain, but they are worried about Mrs Palin's lack of experience. Interestingly some also said they are intrigued by Mr Obama.

That made me wonder if the difference between the two candidates' chances is perhaps at the moment summed up like this.

Obama's natural supporters are actually energized and excited by him.

McCain's natural supporters see their candidate as simply solid.

But many of those who by party affiliation would consider themselves naturally in the McCain camp, find themselves surprisingly intrigued by Obama, and some are flirting with the idea of voting for him.

Tonight, the question is whether McCain did enough to change their minds.