After watching the presidential debate on October 7, it became quite clear that the both candidates were battling outside factors while discussing the status of our country.

Unfortunately, the 'town-hall' style of debate was disjointed and damaging to the flow of debate on both sides. Both candidates had trouble adhering to the time restraints, and this only became more distracting as the debate wore on.

John McCain, who has been successful in the past using this particular format, suffered from a lack of connection to the audience. He was never able to establish a rhythm of speech, and this was quite detrimental to the overall appeal of his oration.

Barack Obama's usually excellent elocutionary skills were somewhat lacking as well. The complete lack of response in the audience seemed to affect him, as he paused several times, as if anticipating a response.

While exasperating moderator Tom Brokaw because of timing issues, neither Senator McCain nor Senator Obama gave much of a showing in relation to content either.

Economics, anyone?

Senator John McCain's economic approach did bring some fresh options to the table, for he introduced a new potential policy during this debate. Senator McCain introduced a plan to allow the Secretary of the Treasury to buy all the homes with defaulted mortgages and then resell them back to the former owners after adjusting the price.

After the debate ended, however, political analyst Donna Brazile stated that the new economic bailout legislation already provides for the same idea. Whether or not this is true, this was the only new argument addressed during this debate. It gave Senator McCain a much needed boost at the beginning of the debate, but as the night wore on both candidates began to belabor the same policies and ideas that the public has been hearing since the beginning of the race.

Senator Obama also left something to be desired. He introduced the same arguments and policies he has been supporting since the beginning of his campaign. He did manage to refer to education and college affordability, unlike Senator McCain. This could quite possibly have endeared him to the younger voting demographic that is still dealing with student loans. This gave him a boost in content, but proved to be non-sustainable.

In a time of economic recession and consumer fear, neither candidate seemed to give many concrete ideas or policies relating to reform. All the answers remained very general, with a lot of filibustering. Surprisingly, neither candidate discussed the plunging stock market, though they did give lip service to the need for economic reform

Familiar foreign policy arguments

Foreign policy differences

On foreign policy, McCain used the traditional argument that he has the necessary experience. Answering a Pakistan question, he briefly referenced "Waziristan, where I've visited-a very rough country" to emphasize how seasoned he is on foreign policy issues.

But Obama scored big when he turned the inexperience argument on its head by saying, "There are some things I don't understand. I don't understand how we ended up invading a country that had nothing to do with 9/11, while Osama Bin Laden and Al Qaeda are setting up base camps and safe havens to train terrorists to attack us."

With that answer, Obama placated liberal pundits who said he hadn't been aggressive enough in the last debate and positioned himself as a Washington outsider.

Candidates fail to cover new ground

Throughout the debate, both candidates called each other's voting records into question and were very accusatory. Regardless of personality, neither candidate seemed to offer significant differences when discussing economics or foreign policy. Both candidates relied heavily upon previous knowledge and did not give many new opinions or policies for analysts to discuss.

As usual, Senator McCain continued to stress his "maverick" status, military history, extensive voting record, and his ability to reach across the aisle, while Senator Obama continued to stress his own voting record, the failure of the "Bush doctrine," and the importance of the middle class.

Both performances were incredibly underwhelming, and offered no real reason for Americans to change their votes. Neither candidate seemed willing to go out on a limb to garner support. With so much of our future riding on this election, both men need to live up to their potential.

The American people are looking for answers: concrete, factual solutions to the problems they face in their everyday lives. Senator Obama and Senator McCain: stop beating around the bush and give us some answers!