The candidates take a breath

LAST NIGHT'S presidential debate was supposed to be focused on foreign policy. But it was 40 minutes before the first international question, about Iraq, was asked. The events on Wall Street that have riveted the nation demanded attention, and got it.

The debate was the climax of a political week that began - was it only Monday? - with high anxiety over the economy, the looming collapse of banks and insurance giants, and the first tentative looks under the hood of the $700 billion bailout plan.

Neither John McCain nor Barack Obama would be pinned down on whether they would support a package that still has many holes in it, and both were reluctant to talk about the initiatives they would need to put on hold while the nation climbs out of the mess. But Obama did a better job of connecting the crisis to ordinary American families, who, he said, face a small financial crisis of their own every month.

After the bumpy week McCain had, culminating with a melodramatic suspension of his campaign to ride to the rescue of a bailout plan his own party wants to derail, voters needed to see a steady figure. McCain did his best to emphasize his foreign policy experience, sprinkling his answers with foreign names and repeatedly saying that Obama "didn't understand."

But he seemed fixated on never again feeling the "defeat and dishonor" the country suffered in Vietnam, which is not reassuring to a battle-weary nation.

Obama was assured and a bit cerebral, showing a command of policy but also reaching for a grander vision of an America that could be admired and respected again in the world. The two men came as they are, and the debate seemed like a pause for breath in a breathless time.