McCain without a knockout

LAST NIGHT, John McCain was like a plodding fighter behind on points who knew he had to score, and so he pursued Barack Obama for much of the night.

Obama, however, is a skilled counter-puncher, and he gave as good as he got, never seeming rattled, fazed, or off-balance.

Some of McCain's best moments came when the two were queried on what sacrifices and change in priorities the financial bailout might require. McCain emphasized that, with the exception of defense and veterans affairs, he would impose a spending freeze. And he said straight out that future retirees won't see as generous benefits as current ones. (Meanwhile, did you know he's against earmarks?)

They won't please everyone, but those answers were at least reasonably direct. But how does that call for fiscal belt-tightening square with McCain's startling new proposal: to have the federal government buy all the bad home mortgages and then let them be renegotiated at the home's present value? That came without a cost estimate.

Obama essentially shrugged off those questions. However, he showed a strong grasp of how the economy works in explaining how frozen credit markets could come to plunge the economy into recession - and thus why the government had to intervene.

What Obama also did well was to tie McCain to the policies of the current Republican administration. Stressing his opponent's longtime support for deregulation and his plan to retain all of George Bush's tax cuts - and offer more - he made it hard for McCain to portray himself as a true change agent.

On foreign policy, the two went over well-trod ground and well-worn arguments. McCain repeatedly asserted that he had the experience and knowledge to do the job, but he didn't demonstrate it.

In the end, McCain didn't do what he needed to.

Scot Lehigh can be reached at lehigh@globe.com.