One thing is clear: John McCain wants to talk about offshore drilling. Doesn't matter what the question is, offshore drilling is part of the answer.

Lehrer asked a really good question: how will dealing with the financial crisis change how you govern? Both candidates refuse to acknowledge the truth of that question. But John McCain's answer is a spending freeze. Obama responds that a broad-based spending freeze is like using a hatchet, when what we need to use is a scalpel.

Fair enough, though subtlety is not necessary a debate winner.

Neither answer is satisfactory, but what I wonder is, do voters, right now, want to hear about how government should stop spending, or do they want to hear about how government is going to help them?