Too little, too late?

Last night, John McCain turned in his best performance of the debate season. He clearly distanced himself from President Bush, he drew contrasts with Obama on taxes and he appeared confident in his answers. In short, he did tonight what he needed to do in the first debate. (However, it should be noted that the instant opinion polling once more showed Obama winning the debate).

The two questions are will McCain’s performance change things and does he have enough time to get back in the game. My sense is that last night will get the McCain campaign up off the floor, it should see McCain stabilise his position. But that isn’t really good enough when you are down by more than seven points in the polling averages with less than three weeks to go.