There was something frenetic about McCain, pacing and talking quickly in clipped sentences with his characteristic chopping-hand motions. He’s all coiled energy; just watching him can make you feel jumpy.

In contrast, Obama exudes an easy confidence, comfortable in his own skin and in his knowledge of the issues. He stood still in giving his answers. He talked more slowly in longer sentences – a calm salve after the bristly McCain.

The Democrat presents himself as the soul of reasonableness in all things: He’s a tax-cutter determined to control government spending, and a prudent hawk out to kill bin Laden and crush al Qaeda. Every time the soothing and fluid Obama answered, you could feel people out in America thinking, I want to believe. McCain’s job was to try to pull them back, to get them to think, “Maybe not.”