Debate Preview: Obama Holds Strong, McCain Talks Big

Posted by Katharine Zaleski, Huffington Post at 6:43 AM on October 15, 2008.

Tonight is the last presidential debate and the stakes are highest for John McCain, since he's on track to finish off this debate season with three strikes. The Republican candidate appears to be heightening expectations for a fight. Before last Tuesday's debate he did the same thing, suggesting to a crowd that he would "take the gloves off." (He didn't, and by many accounts the debate was not only "boring" but another win for Obama.) Tonight is McCain's last chance to close the widening gap between him and Senator Obama. By McCain's own predictions, it would seem that only a knockout win will do the trick.

Read below for McCain's two major pronouncements: that he'll "'whip' Obama's "you-know-what" and that it's "probably ensured" he'll bring up William Ayers tonight.

MCCAIN'S PLAN TO "'WHIP' OBAMA'S 'YOU-KNOW-WHAT':

John McCain predicted Sunday he would beat Barack Obama at the final presidential debate this week.

"After I whip his you-know-what in this debate, we're going to be going out 24/7," the Republican nominee told volunteers at his campaign headquarters in Arlington, Virginia, sparking laughter and applause from the group. McCain immediately added: "I want to emphasize again, I respect Senator Obama. We will conduct a respectful race, and we will make sure that everybody else does, too."

In an interview on a St. Louis radio station, McCain said Obama's comments that "I didn't have the guts" to talk about William Ayers in the last presidential debate have "probably ensured" that the former 1960s radical will come up in Wednesday's debate.