Barack Obama and John McCain had tough exchanges over taxation, abortion and the conduct of their campaigns in the liveliest and most substantive debate of the presidential contest writes Denis Stauntonin Hempstead, New York.
Mr McCain, who is trailing badly in the polls, was on the offensive for most of the 90-minute event at New York’s Hofstra University, the last of three debates between the candidates.
Mr Obama remained calm and measured throughout but the Republican landed more blows in his most impressive debate performance of the campaign. Two quick polls after the debate, by CBS News and CNN, judged Mr Obama the winner. He was also considered the winner of the first two presidential debates.
A few minutes after the debate began, Mr McCain rebuked Mr Obama for linking him to the unpopular White House incumbent.
"Senator Obama, I am not President Bush," Mr McCain said.
"If you wanted to run against President Bush, you should have run four years ago. I'm going to give a new direction to this economy in this country."
Mr Obama smiled through most of the Republican's attacks, responding in a cool, measured tone while Mr McCain often appeared frustrated and peevish.
"If I've occasionally mistaken your policies for George Bush's policies, it's because on the core economic issues that matter to the American people — on tax policy, on energy policy, on spending priorities — you have been a vigorous supporter of President Bush," Mr Obama said.
Mr McCain questioned the Democrat's account of his relationship with William Ayers, a former urban guerrilla with whom Mr Obama served on a number of non-profit boards in Chicago.
"Bill Ayers is a professor of education in Chicago. Forty years ago, when I was 8 years old, he engaged in despicable acts with a radical domestic group. I have roundly condemned those acts," Mr Obama said.
"Mr Ayers is not involved in my campaign. He has never been involved in this campaign. And he will not advise me in the White House."
Mr McCain denied that he has been running a negative campaign and complained that Mr Obama had not condemned remarks by Georgia congressman John Lewis comparing the Republican's campaign to that of 1960's segregationist George Wallace.
"That, to me, was so hurtful," Mr McCain said.
"And, Senator Obama, you didn't repudiate those remarks. Every time there's been an out-of-bounds remark made by a Republican, no matter where they are, I have repudiated them. I hope that Senator Obama will repudiate those remarks that were made by Congressman John Lewis, very unfair and totally inappropriate."
Mr Obama said that Mr Lewis, who was a civil rights leader in the 1960's, may have "gone over the line" but he held back from criticising the congressman's remarks.
"He, unprompted by my campaign, without my campaign's awareness, made a statement that he was troubled with what he was hearing at some of the rallies that your running mate was holding, in which all the Republican reports indicated were shouting, when my name came up, things like "terrorist" and "kill him," and that you're running mate didn't mention, didn't stop, didn't say "Hold on a second, that's kind of out of line."
"And I think Congressman Lewis' point was that we have to be careful about how we deal with our supporters," Mr Obama said.
Although Mr Lewis and Mr Ayers figured in the debate, neither played as prominent a role as "Joe the Plumber" – Joe Wurzelbacher, a plumber from Toledo, Ohio, who told Mr Obama at a rally that he was worried about the Democrat's tax policies.
Mr Wurzelbacher said he was thinking of buying his plumbing business but that he was concerned that if it made more than $250,000 a year, Mr Obama would increase his taxes.
"It's not that I want to punish your success," Mr Obama told the plumber.
"I just want to make sure that everybody who is behind you, that they've got a chance at success, too. And I think that when we spread the wealth around, it's good for everybody."
Mr McCain referred to the plumber repeatedly during the debate, accusing Mr Obama of seeking to strangle the American dream by redistributing wealth.
"I want Joe the plumber to spread that wealth around. You told him you wanted to spread the wealth around," the Republican said.
"The whole premise behind Senator Obama's plans are class warfare, let's spread the wealth around. I want small businesses -- and by the way, the small businesses that we're talking about would receive an increase in their taxes right now. Who -- why would you want to increase anybody's taxes right now? Why would you want to do that, anyone, anyone in America, when we have such a tough time, when these small business people, like Joe the plumber, are going to create jobs, unless you take that money from him and spread the wealth around."
Mr McCain said that he would not insist that nominees to the supreme court should favour overturning Roe v Wade, which guarantees the right to an abortion. He accused Mr Obama, however, of opposing a ban on a late-term abortion procedure known as "partial birth abortion" and of voting against providing medical care to babies born after a botched abortion.
Mr Obama said that the next president would make important judicial appointments that could determine the future of abortion rights in the US.
"I think that abortion is a very difficult issue and it is a moral issue and one that I think good people on both sides can disagree on," he said.
"But what ultimately I believe is that women in consultation with their families, their doctors, their religious advisers, are in the best position to make this decision. And I think that the Constitution has a right to privacy in it that shouldn't be subject to state referendum, any more than our First Amendment rights are subject to state referendum, any more than many of the other rights that we have should be subject to popular vote."
Mr Obama said he had only opposed limits on abortion where they failed to safeguard the health of the mother but Mr McCain claimed that the concept of the mother's health had been stretched by abortion rights activists to mean almost anything.
"That's the extreme pro-abortion position, quote, "health"," he said, miming quotation marks with his fingers.
Instant polls by CBS and CNN found that most voters believed Mr Obama won the debate but Mr McCain's campaign staff insisted that he had changed the trajectory of the race by finding a powerful closing argument on the economy and taxation.