In Heated Final Debate, Candidates Fight for "Joe the Plumber's" Vote

Anyone who was bored by the first two presidential debates got something entirely different Wednesday night. With election day fast approaching, the battle for votes between Mr. McCain and Mr. Obama grew especially heated during the third and final debate. BC students were invited to view C-SPAN's telecast of the debate at Robsham Theatre, cosponsored by AID.

Wednesday's clash of candidates was held at Hofstra University and moderated by CBS's Bob Schieffer. It was conducted in the traditional, non town-meeting style, the topic being domestic policy.

Sen. McCain was more feisty than we have ever seen him. The Republican, lagging behind Obama in recent polls, was extremely passionate and at times confrontational in his arguments throughout the night. Whether such emotion was due to desperation or simply a desire to be strong with his views is unclear. Obama, for his part, remained relatively cool and collected, no doubt comforted by his lead in nationwide polls.

During one segment of the debate, Mr. Schieffer asked the presidential hopefuls to address the negativity in their campaigns. Obama and McCain each took advantage of the opportunity , with McCain focusing on Obama's "connection" to Bill Aires and Akorn, and Obama saying that "100%" of McCain's ads have been negative (a questionable statistic). Obama mentioned chants of "terrorist" and "kill him" at Republican rallies, while McCain admittedly felt hurt by some things said by the Democratic campaign.

In addition, the candidates spent much of the debate attempting to portray themselves as friends of the middle class via dialogue about, and at times with, "Joe the Plumber." He started out as an anecdotal figure met by Obama on the campaign trail, but ended up a metaphor for the middle class as a whole. Joe was mentioned around twenty times throughout the night (the Robsham audience laughed heartily as the metaphor dragged on for far too long).

Wednesday night suggested some things about this election. One is that it is going to be nasty down the stretch. If the overall tone and content of the debate is any indication, there is still a lot of mud left in the arsenals of both parties. Also, the middle class will be a key talking point. With the economy showing little or no signs of improving, Sens. McCain and Obama each will want to appear to be the one that will rescue "Joe the Plumber" from his tough times. Finally, we can be sure that the election will be a turning point in our history. Amid the negativity, many fundamental differences between the candidates were exposed Wednesday. In such a time of crisis, the track that this nation takes for the next four years will be of great significance. So, come election day, GET OUT AND VOTE!!!