Debate Preview: Mean McCain?

It has been a little harder than normal to get a pulse on the 3rd and final debate this week. For one thing, I have been in Philadelphia – and everyone is obsessed with PHILLIES MANIA – Given the fact that the debate is up against the Phillies game tonight, the general consensus, at least here in Philly was indifferent. Some folks said that they plan on tivo-ing the debate and watching it later, others said they planned on celebrating a Phillies win tonight – forget the debate.

However, from what I have manage to gather during the past week, McCain needs to make a strong showing. Many feel that he needs to come out swinging and hit hard. No more dancing around the issues and light footing about Obama’s questionable relationships – if there is an issue about any of Obama’s qualifications then McCain needs to raise it, and make it front and center tonight.

The economy has hurt the McCain campaign, and it looks as though this financial mess is not going away any time soon. Therefore, McCain really needs to attack Obama on his taxation policies. Who will be taxed, how much, and what will the consequences be. Obama often says that he is going to leave taxes alone, or lower them, for 95% of us – McCain needs to take Obama to task on this statement. If you raise taxes on businesses or business owners who will really feel the effect? Higher taxes on companies mean higher product prices, thus higher burden on the everyday consumer.

After today’s grim consumer spending report one thing is clear – we need to sell more products, not less. Also, Mc Cain needs to flush out exactly what the Obama health care plan will be. Is Obama going to penalize employers who do not provide health insurance to their employees? How much will that cost – and what choice will businesses make?

As always, it should be an interesting debate. I am always amazed how many time McCain says “my friends” and how many times Obama drags out the word “and”.
Hopefully this third and final debate is more lively than last weeks. I will be watching, and hope you will be too!