On winning and losing a debate

I've seen it printed/posted in a few places that some people think Keyes won last night's senatorial debate. But let's not forget -- and this goes for anyone who thinks Bush won any of this year's debates -- just because a candidate succeeds in not making an ass out of themselves for once, that doesn't mean they've necessarily won the debate. I think the Alan Keyes that we saw last night -- in contrast to the one we've seen so far on the campaign trail -- was capable of participating in a debate about relevant topics. In that regard, it was a pretty fair debate. Were it not for the issue of abortion, this might have been a tie. But unfortunately for Keyes, abortion is, as Obama pointed out, the one issue Keyes hangs his hat on. Obama's response to the issue was clear, easy to understand, factual, direct and well said. It diminished, if not totally invalidated, Keyes' argument. That tipped the balance.