So yesterday’s Presidential debate in Oxford, Mississippi, went ahead. McCain ended the suspense and broke his promise to skip the scheduled event if no deal was made on the financial rescue plan. As it happened, it was a fairly quiet and non-eventful event. Nothing new came out, there were no surprises and the tone was, for the most part, quite civilized between McCain and Obama. Was it worth watching?

Obama attacked McCain and the current President on the economy. In one of the more memorable minutes of the ninety, Obama said this about the current crisis: “This is a final verdict on eight years of failed economic policy promoted by George Bush and supported by Senator McCain.”

McCain retaliated, calling his opponent on being a big spending liberal, who will not be able to bring Democrats and Republicans together.

The other hot topic was Iraq. McCain being a staunch supporter of the war, Obama an early critic of it. Obama reiterated his criticism of McCain and the Iraq war, saying he like to pretend the war started in 2007, that it would be quick and easy and that there had been weapons of mass destruction.

This debate only offered Americans what they already knew about the candidates, there were no big moments, no mistake, nothing that will dominate the news for days. Hopefully that will come on Thursday when Biden meets Palin?