10/8 Roundup: "That One" vs. The Other Guy, Sliding Markets, Sarah's Doodles

- Barack Obama and John McCain squared off last night for the second of three debates.  Who won the town hall-style showdown in Nashville?  Barack Obama.  Or so says, well, everyone:

- The CNN instapolls hand it to Obama, 54% to 30%.  CBS instapolls agree.

- Mark Halperin of Time gives Obama a B+.  McCain gets a B.

- With the stakes so high for McCain, Politico says he lost by not winning.

- Josh Marshall of TPM thinks the debate reassured everyone that Obama is the better candidate.

- Noam Scheiber of TNR saw Obama as professorial (in a good way).

- Not a game changer, says Chris Cillizza at the Fix. The WIndy concurs.

- John Dickerson of Slate writes that McCain needed a knockout, and didn't get one.

- McCain referred to Obama as "that one" in the debate, which Ezra Klein thinks made him seem cranky.  Klein also wrote that McCain looked like a guy who's about to lose an election.

- The economy was the major focus of the evening.

- And (still) with good reason.  The Nikkei is down nearly 10% today. European markets are all down 4-5%.  Hong Kong's Hang Seng index is down over 8%.

- The Fed and its European friends cut interest rates by half a percent, to slow the fall of the markets.

- The British government will announce their own bailout today, spending 50 billion pounds to partly nationalize failing banks.

- McCain proposed a plan to renegotiate mortgages. His campaign backed it up with details.

- Cindy McCain tells the Tennesean that Obama has waged "the dirtiest campaign in history."  Zing?

- Even in Alaska, more and more people dislike Sarah Palin.

- Last, Sarah's doodles are well-worth a look.

If you come across an article, blog post, video or anything else you think should be in the Daily Roundup, send it to me, and I'll try to get it in.  Thanks!