Gail Collins - Three Guys and a Table - NYTimes.com

Op-Ed Columnist - Three Guys and a Table - NYTimes.com: "The staggering McCain campaign virtually closed down this week as everybody attempted to come up with a big debate game-changer that did not require an entirely different pair of candidates.

Once he calmed down and stopped grinning manically, McCain did, indeed, go on the offensive. He not only managed to compare Barack Obama to Herbert Hoover, he told America that the community group Acorn was “maybe destroying the fabric of democracy” with their sloppy voter-registration programs.

Did it work? Was the audience moved by McCain’s description of the plight of Joe, the Ohio plumber, who discovered that the Obama program might mean higher taxes for him if his business were to net more than $250,000 a year? Or were they stunned by the idea that anybody still expects to make that much money in the foreseeable future?"