The long-anticipated first debate between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton is over, and I have to say it's essentially a draw or close to. Neither candidate got in the kind of killer shot that flattened the other candidate. Overall, I think that Trump will benefit a bit from the debate; not Hillary. His poll numbers have been picking up, he has the momentum right now, so he had something to lose tonight. He didn't lose it.
The polite word to describe Hillary's performance is "articulate." A less polite word is "shallow." Back in 1980, Robert A. Heinlein made a wisecrack about Time magazine: the more he know about an event, the less accurate its reporting. That's close to how I took Hillary's words: the more I know about a particular subject, the more her words came across as glib patter - as questionable.
Trump was true to form: bombastic, plowing ahead like a piledriver, vague. Hillary tried to use the last against him, but didn't sting him. He stuck to his usual: negative, with a hint of if-this-goes-on doomsaying, anti-politician, common-sensical in a way. Again, he urged everyone to trust his business record.
He certainly interrupted an awful lot - he certainly like a good heckle! - but he seemed restrained even to the point of missing a few kill-shot opportunities. For example, Hillary Clinton bragged that she put together a coalition against Iraq that included Russia. The Donald did not jump in at that point and belt out, "So you admire Putin!" Along these lines, just after Hillary going on about what she's doing about ISIS, he could have barged in with "And Russia - Vladimir Putin - is clobbering ISIS, which President Obama and Secretary Clinton just can't do!"
He also failed to mention anything related to the Clinton Foundation, which was probably deliberate restraint on his part. She did not reciprocate on her end. But if you're something of a political junkie like me, you noticed that all her swipes at Donald's business record were old news. We'll find out if they're also stale.
The best point Trump made was that the Dems have thrown everything at him and he's still tied or winning. A good reminder of how many times he's been not only slagged but also counted out. It reinforced his image as the unstoppable force.
If you're a Trump supporter, you'll surely think he's won. If you're with her, you'll of course think Hillary won. But my Canadian eyes didn't see any clear victor, any clear knock-out punch. Perhaps both candidates have too much self-confidence for any knock-out punch to work.
Now, it's up to the polls...
...and if the proverbial gun were to be placed at my head, I'd say that the debate will help Donald's numbers a smidgen. We'll find out soon.