Maybe you saw the debate on Wednesday night, and McCain unveiled his new personality. He's got a new personality. The new personality is fighting underdog. And if that doesn't work, the next one is going to be tyrannical sea captain. ... And if that doesn't work, fun-loving gaucho. And if that doesn't work, ex-patriot saloon owner.

Did you notice how energetic and aggressive John McCain was during the debate? I think somebody added Red Bull to his Mylanta.

Every debate's had one of these, where there's kind of an embarrassing moment, one of the candidates got confused. It happened again earlier tonight, John McCain, they're sitting at desks. That was the new breakthrough for this debate, sitting at desks. And John McCain kept asking about a senior discount on the grand slam breakfast.

How about that Sarah Palin? Do you like Sarah Palin? She's exciting. She's interesting, isn't she? And she was at the debate, and she was blinking McCain's answers in code.

But here, I mean, they're going right down to the wire here. You've got Barack Obama and you've got John McCain. And oh, my God, what a soap opera, what a soap opera this has become. I mean, it's the 'Old and the Restless.'

The third presidential debate took place in our neck of the woods, out on Long Island. ... I watched the debate, and, honestly, there was no question, no question who looked more presidential. Bob Schieffer.

I was fascinated because they had the split screen. The split screen technology. So, on the one side of the screen you saw a younger black man, and then on the other side of the screen, you see an older white man. And it was, honest to God, it was like a before and after of Michael Jackson.

How many of you saw the debate last night from Hofstra out there on Long Island. Anybody see? I wanna tell you, it was a different John McCain, wasn't it? He was electric. He electrified the crowd. And afterwards, Cloris Leachman tossed him her hotel key.

But the first debate was podiums. ... Then they had the town hall format. Last night it was desks Now the next debate -- competitive eating.

Lots of talk in the debate last night about Joe the Plumber. How about that? Do you remember him from the '60s Drano commercials? Joe the Plumber. Do you remember? And I think he's also the one who ordered the hit on Sammy the Bull.

Joe the Plumber is such a celebrity now that after the debate, he was rushed to Washington to unclog a valve on Dick Cheney.

Everybody in New York City has Joe the Plumber fever? Can you feel it? I mean, even the Statue of Liberty was holding a plunger.

And we were going to have Joe the Plumber on the program. We had him booked on the show. But at the last minute he canceled on us to do an interview with Katie Couric.

It was interesting last night during the debate. At one point, John McCain brought up Barack Obama's relationship with '60s radical William Ayers. And then Barack Obama brings up McCain's relationship with John Brown at Harper's Ferry.

Do you know who was at the debate last night? Hillary Clinton. That's right. I'm thinking to myself, is it really a good idea to be leaving Bill home alone?

Tomorrow night is the final presidential debate, and John McCain is going to take this opportunity to unveil his new campaign persona, his new campaign personality, to really energize the last couple of weeks of the campaign: Fighting underdog. And if that doesn't work, then he's going to go to sadistic yard bull.

But the first debate was at podiums, and the debate this week was what they call the town hall. The format for the next debate is going to be fun: dunk tanks.

And then there was one kind of unpleasant moment for Barack Obama when that woman jumps up. Did you see that, where the woman jumps up? And Barack Obama is momentarily taken aback. And he said, 'All right, look, I told you, ma'am, I already have a running mate. Now please sit down, Hillary.'

I kind of got a chuckle out of this. Tom Brokaw was the moderator of the debate, and at one point, Tom tells Obama and McCain that they're going to now answer questions that came in over the Internet. And you know what McCain said? 'Tom, is that the same as a telegraph?'

But they had the town hall format, and that meant that the candidates could wander around on stage. You know, I like John McCain, but wandering around on stage there, he looked like a retiree who can't find his Buick.

Sarah Palin was not mentioned during the debate and did not watch the debate. I thought that was interesting. And they said, 'Well, Sarah, why? I'm sorry, Miss Alaska -- why didn't you watch the debate?' And she said, 'Well, I'm busy reading every newspaper and magazine ever published.'

But you know, you see them standing there together, you've got Palin and you've got Biden, and oh my God, they look like the Channel 9 News station.

And before the debate, of course, Sarah Palin goes up to Senator Biden and says, is it alright if I call you Joe? And he says, is it alright if I call you smokin' hot?

And I don't know if you saw this, but Sarah Palin, the governor's family, was sitting in the front row, and halfway through the debate, her future son-in-law made a run for it.

Anybody see the debate last night? Whoa. And they're saying that Sarah Palin actually did pretty well, and that Joe Biden avoided any verbal gaffes, and I'm thinking, well, what fun was that? That was no fun at all, for God sakes.

And everybody's been asking me, they said, 'Dave, did you see the debate last night?' And my answer, of course, is, 'Ohh, you betcha!'

During the debate, Palin winked, wrinkled her nose, and gave a shout-out to a third-grade class. Well, you know, that says commander-in-chief to me right there. You betcha!

She kept reaching out to Joe Sixpack. That's because her answers make more sense after six beers.

But I, you know, say what you will, I think one of the most embarrassing moments of the whole night was when Joe Biden had to say oh, oh, I'm sorry. I wasn't listening to the question. I was thinking about Sarah naked.

But say what you will. I got to give Sarah Palin a lot of credit. I thought she did pretty well in the debate. After all, she was in over her hair.

And the pundits are already saying that she did fine. And supposed experts are saying okay, she did fine. Okay, yeah, she did fine, but she also was very, very lucky. I mean come on, there were three moose questions.

How about that debate earlier tonight, huh? Is it just me, or whenever Sarah Palin was asked a question, there's a long pause. You know, like when you have a foreign correspondent and the satellite delay.

I mean if it gets worse, God bless him, John McCain has a backup plan. He's going to dump Sarah Palin and replace her with Bonnie Hunt.

But I try to be upbeat about things like this. And you look at that debate and by God, it was historic, it really was historic. I think in was the first time they ever used a laugh track.

I loved the back and forth arguing, both sides of the issues. And that was just Joe Biden. He was talking to himself.