Okay, quick reaction. I didn't hear a lot that was new, at least about the issues that matter most to people. My feeling for the last week or two is that the problem the McCain campaign has is that it keeps using lines that haven't worked. McCain has said all these things before — many times! — and Obama has a 5-7% national lead and is ahead in states that usually go Republican. He seems to think that if he says, "I know how to handle [problem]" enough times, America will suddenly realize he does and switch their votes.
I'm perfectly willing to see the G.O.P. ticket pursue this approach all the way to an Obama landslide. But if I were advising McCain, I'd say, "John, it ain't working. When you say Obama has always been wrong about Iraq, he's just going to remind everyone how you said it would be a short war, we'd be greeted as liberators, it would pay for itself, etc. You've been pursuing this line for weeks and you're dropping in all those swing states that you have to win."
McCain looked like a nicer person than he did in their first meeting but I didn't hear anything that struck me as game-changing tonight.