With less than three weeks to go before Election Day, John McCain and Barack Obama met tonight for their third and final debate, this time on the campus of Hofstra University on Long Island. Here’s an account of how it went down.

Wrapping It Up | 11:23 p.m. This debate was a lot more confrontational than the first two, with Mr. McCain repeatedly taking jabs at Mr. Obama. Whether it was enough to reverse Mr. McCain’s sagging fortunes remains to be seen.

Mr. McCain didn’t hammer home the theme he had highlighted in the earlier debates — that Mr. Obama doesn’t understand the complex and dangerous world out there.

Instead, Mr. McCain hit him, relentlessly and aggressively, with specifics, on everything from his support for abortion rights to his desire to “spread the wealth” around (Robin Hood is coming!).

Several of his statements also stretched the truth; see our section for details.

Mr. Obama often turned the other cheek. He passed up the chance to say that Gov. Sarah Palin, Mr. McCain’s running mate, was not qualified to be president, which, polls show, many Americans believe.

And while he passed up chances to respond to some of Mr. McCain’s attacks, he did respond to others, which seemed to lead him away from the points he wanted to make.

The cumulative effect of his three debate performances clearly suggested that he is someone who likes to play it safe. That has not seemed to hurt him; if anything, it has helped define who he is.

Hillary Clinton popped up on CNN after the debate, giving her review of Mr. Obama’s performance (“great”). Mrs. Clinton, who had outperformed him in most of the Democratic debates during the primary season, said he was “very steady” and had been “cool, calm, collected.”

CNN asked her what it was like to sit in the audience, knowing that she had been so close to being the nominee and could have been up there on the stage herself? She laughed, and blew off the question.

But Mrs. Clinton was not the star of this show. Tonight’s Oscar goes to … Joe the Plumber! His name cropped up almost two dozen times (eight times as “Joe the Plumber” and 15 more times as Joe). Read more here (and, no doubt, in the days to follow).

Then get ready to watch a slugfest for the next 20 days.

p.s.: MSNBC is reporting that Joe has gone to bed. It’s always hard to find a plumber at this time of night.

Interactive Video and Transcript

Locating Joe | 10:44 p.m. Looks like The Associated Press reached Joe the Plumber, er, Joe Wurzelbacher, who lives near Toledo, Ohio. He did not say who he was voting for, but did say he was surprised that he was called “Joe the Plumber” repeatedly during the debate.

“It’s pretty surreal, man, my name being mentioned in a presidential campaign,” he is quoted as saying.

Closing Statements | 10:35 p.m. Mr. McCain says these are difficult times and then tries to co-opt the Obama campaign theme, saying, “America needs a new direction.” He says he has a record of differing with his (unnamed) party.

He also notes there has been “a long line of McCains” who has served this country in war and peace. He is trying to emphasize his family’s service, but it’s a surprisingly aristocratic approach to take to the presidency.



Mr. Obama also says these are tough times and Washington has been unwilling to tackle the tough problems “for decades.” And he takes a page from Mr. McCain’s playbook, applying the word “risk” to Mr. McCain. “The biggest risk we could take now,” Mr. Obama says, would be to adopt “the same failed policies and same failed politics” of the last eight years.

And then it’s over.

They shake hands. Mr. McCain says repeatedly to Mr. Obama: “Good job, good job, good job.” He then seems caught in not being able to decide which route to take to the stage from behind the desk, throwing up his hands and making a face.

Their wives now join them on stage, Mrs. McCain in Republican red, Mrs. Obama in Democratic blue.

Smoothing Things Over | 10:31 p.m. Mr. Obama’s mode in this debate has been to try to smooth things over — he applauded Mr. McCain on torture; he said he sought “common ground” on abortion; he agreed with some of Mr. McCain’s views on education. This makes it harder for him to draw bright lines of distinction with his opponent. On this topic of education, for example, Mr. McCain takes the opportunity — again — to criticize Mr. Obama, lecturing him on the subject of vouchers and then admonishing him for not having paid attention to it. Mr. Obama comes back to say, “Senator McCain is absolutely right” that the school system in Washington, D.C., is terrible, and then gets around to disagreeing with him on vouchers.

On the Attack, Again | 10:24 p.m. Mr. McCain is taking every opportunity to attack Mr. Obama. This distracts Mr. Obama from making his own points about the economy (or answering Mr. Schieffer’s questions). Example: Mr. McCain says Mr. Obama voted to withhold life-saving treatment from an infant; Mr. Obama says that if it sounds “incredible” that he would vote that way, that’s because it isn’t true.



The Plumber Debate | 10:20 More from Adam Nagourney: We have had the “you’re no JFK” debate.

We have had the “are you better off” debate.

And this one will assured be known as “Joe the Plumber” the debate.

The man in question is a voter who confronted Mr. Obama in Ohio about his proposal to let Mr. Bush’s tax cut for people making over $250,000 a year expire in an uncomfortable conversation that got caught on videotape.

And thing is clear in this debate: Mr. McCain came in here with a plan for making Joe the Plumber the fourth character in the debate, joining Mr. Obama and Mr. Schieffer for the night. He mentioned him 10 times in the first 15 minutes of the debate, as he sought to portray Mr. Obama as someone who was going to raise taxes on small businesses. Mr. McCain brought him up again when the topic turned to health care, turning to the camera to address. Even Mr. Obama addressed him.

Count on seeing a lot of coverage of Joe the Plumber over the next few days. How that will actually play with voters and opinion-makers is another question. This could be the defining moment Mr. McCain was looking for to portray Mr. Obama as a big-spending liberal. On the other hand, as Mr. McCain invoked his friend again and again, it seemed just as possible that he is tonight providing new glorious videotape for Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert to use in spoofing Mr. McCain in the day’s ahead.



Litmus Test? | 10:12 p.m. Could you ever nominate someone to the Supreme Court who disagreed with your view on abortion?

Mr. McCain says he wouldn’t have a litmus test and would consider anyone and their qualifications. But, he says, he doesn’t believe that anyone who supported Roe v. Wade would be qualified.

Mr. Obama also says he would have no litmus test. He goes on to say he supports Roe but doesn’t say whether he would support someone who opposes it.

Reviewing the Transcript | 10:01 p.m. Back here quickly to that earlier exchange, probably the most heated of all three debates. Mr. Schieffer had asked: “Are each of you tonight willing to sit at this table and say, toeach other’s face, what your campaigns and the people in your campaigns have said about each other?”

MCCAIN: Well, this has been a tough campaign. It’s been a very tough campaign. And I know from my experience in many campaigns that if Senator Obama had asked — responded to my urgent request to sit down and do town-hall meetings and come before the American people, we could have done at least 10 of them by now. When Senator Obama was first asked, he said anyplace, anytime — the way Barry Goldwater and Jack Kennedy agreed to do before the intervention of the tragedy at Dallas. So I think the tone of this campaign could have been very different. And the fact is, it’s gotten pretty tough, and I regret some of the negative aspects of both campaigns. But the fact is that it has taken many turns which I think are unacceptable. One of them happened just the other day, when a man I admire and respect — I’ve written about him — Congressman John Lewis, an American hero — made allegations that Sarah Palin and I were somehow associated with the worst chapter in American history: segregation, deaths of children in church bombings, George Wallace. That — that, to me, was so hurtful. And Senator Obama, you didn’t repudiate those remarks. Every time there’s been an out-of-bounds remark made by a Republican, no matter where they are, I have repudiated them. I hope that Senator Obama will repudiate those remarks that were made by Congressman John Lewis. They’re very unfair and totally inappropriate. (More on this exchange in Check Point) So I want to tell you, we will run a truthful campaign. This is a tough campaign. And it’s a matter of fact that Senator Obama has spent more money on negative ads than any political campaign in history, and I can prove it. And Senator Obama, when he said — and he signed a piece of paper that said he would take public financing for his campaign if I did. That was back when he was a long-shot candidate. You didn’t keep your word. And when you looked into the camera in a debate with Senator Clinton and said, “I will sit down and negotiate with John McCain about public financing before I make a decision,” you didn’t tell the American people the truth, because you didn’t. And that’s — that’s — that’s an unfortunate part. Now we have the highest spending by Senator Obama’s campaign than any time — OBAMA: All right. Well, look, you know, I think that we expect presidential campaigns to be tough. I think that if you look at the record and the impressions of the American people — Bob, your network just did a poll showing that two-thirds of the American people think that Senator McCain’s running a negative campaign versus one-third of mine. And 100 percent, John, of your ads — 100 percent of them — have been negative. MCCAIN: That’s not true. OBAMA: A hundred — it — it absolutely is true. And — and — now, I think the American people are less interested in our hurt feelings during the course of the campaign than addressing the issues that matter to them so deeply. And there is nothing wrong with us having a vigorous debate, like we’re having tonight, about health care, about energy policy, about tax policy. That’s the stuff that campaigns should be made of. The notion, though, that because we’re not doing town-hall meetings, that justifies some of the ads that have been going up not just from your own campaign directly, John, but 527s and other organizations that make some pretty tough accusations — well, I don’t mind being attacked for the next three weeks.

Drill, Baby … or Not | 9:55 p.m. Mr. McCain is clearly trying to get under Mr. Obama’s skin and has an easy way of slamming him. In a discussion of foreign oil, Mr. McCain says, “I admire his eloquence” but you have to pay attention to his words. He accuses Mr. Obama of equivocating about offshore drilling, by saying he would “look at” it. Mr. McCain supports offshore drilling. He also notes that Mr. Obama has “never been south of the border.”

Mr. Obama doesn’t address the issues that Mr. McCain has raised.

A Relentless McCain | 9:50 p.m. Mr. Obama seems kind of astounded at Mr. McCain’s repetitions of things that he thought he had put to rest — Mr. Ayers, tax increases. Mr. Obama keeps looking at Mr. Schieffer with eyes wide, as if to say, can you believe it?

Palin vs. Biden 9: 46 p.m. Q: Why would your running mate be a better president than the other guy’s running mate?

Mr. Obama says that Joe Biden has experience.

Mr. McCain says that Sarah Palin is a reformer.

Is she qualified to be president? Mr. Obama says that’s up to the American people, but obviously she’s a capable politician and has excited the Republican base.

Mr. McCain is asked if Mr. Biden is qualified to be president. Mr. McCain says he is qualified “in many respects” but has been wrong on many foreign policy issues, like voting against the first Gulf War. And he had a “cockamamie idea” about dividing Iraq into three countries.

Getting Attention, Fast | 9:43 p.m. Our colleage, Adam Nagourney, just offered this observation: One rule of presidential debates is, if you have what you consider a grabby line attack, try to get it out at the beginning of the night. The idea is that is when you have the biggest audience that is paying the closest attention and newspapers writers pay more attention to the beginning of a debate than the end, as deadlines approach.

Mr. McCain clearly had that in mind at the debate tonight. Twenty minutes into the debate, Mr. Obama began talking about the explosion of spending and the deficit under President Bush – part of his ongoing effort to link Mr. McCain and Mr. Bush – Mr. McCain began fidgeting in his seat. He clearly had a line he wanted to deliver and nothing is going to get in his way.

The moderator, Bob Schieffer, had a question. “Can you balance the budget in four years,” he asked

“Sure I do,” Mr. McCain said immediately and, without elaborating, delivered his sound-bite that you pretty likely will see repeated on the air over the next few days.

“Senator Obama, I am not President Bush,” he said. “If you wanted to run against President Bush you should have run four years ago.”

Mr. Obama was not flustered. “Essentially, what you are proposing is eight more years of the same thing – and it hasn’t worked,” he said. “And the American people know it hasn’t worked.’

The Negative Campaigning | 9:30 p.m. Will you sit here and repeat, face to face, the nasty things your campaigns are saying about each other?

Mr. McCain says he was hurt when Representative John Lewis complained that Mr. McCain and his running mate, Sarah Palin, were sowing the seeds of hatred and evoked George Wallace. He says Mr. Obama didn’t repudiate this, but Mr. Obama did.

Mr. Obama says that Ms. Palin had prompted audiences to yell out things like “terrorist” and “kill him” and that she didn’t stop them or repudiate them. Mr. Obama finally addresses the point about Mr. Lewis, saying he thought he inappropriately drew a comparison with Mr. Wallace. Mr. Obama notes that he put out a statement saying the comparison was not apt and that Mr. Lewis put out a statement saying he had perhaps gone over the line.



Whose Party Is This? | 9:26 p.m. Mr. McCain asks Mr. Obama to say when he has stood up to Democratic leaders.

Mr. Obama points to tort reform, not popular with trial lawyers, a major constituency of the Democratic party, and says he supports clean coal, which doesn’t make him popular with environmentalists. He says Mr. McCain has been “a vigorous supporter” of President Bush. “You’ve shown some commendable independence, on issues like torture,” he tells him, but not on economics, and he’s proposing eight more years of the same thing.

Mr. McCain: Your argument for standing up to the leaders of your party isn’t very convincing.

Paying for the Deficit | 9:20 p.m. Won’t you have to cut some of your proposals because of the soaring deficit?

Mr. Obama doesn’t answer the question. Mr. McCain goes to the matter of home ownership. Mr. Schieffer tries to reel him back in. He says he would cut subsidies for ethanol, repeats his call for a spending freeze and again brings up that overhead projector that Mr. Obama wants for a planetarium. Mr. Obama agrees that earmarks are bad and now, 20 minutes into the debate, links Mr. McCain to George Bush.

Mr. McCain: “Senator Obama, I’m not President Bush. If you want to run against President Bush, you should have run four years ago.” Well-delivered line, with some anger, but he is stumbling over a lot of other words. Maybe he’s over-rehearsed?

Joe the Plumber | 9:17 p.m. Mr. Obama was seen on video yesterday telling Joe Wurzelbacher that he wants to take the profits of small-business owners and “spread the wealth around” to those with lesser incomes. Mr. McCain repeats this and persists in saying that Mr. Obama wants to raise taxes, and keeps referring to Joe, who in these first few minutes of the debate has become the universal middle-class taxpayer.



It’s the Economy…. | 9:11 p.m. Why is your economic plan better than his?

Mr. McCain first makes a nod to Nancy Reagan, who is in the hospital. As for the American people, he says, “they’re hurting, they’re angry,” and they’re innocent victims of greed on Wall Street. He says “angry” several times in this first answer. He doesn’t exactly answer the question.

Mr. Obama describes a bit of his plan but also makes this point in answering the question: both he and Mr. McCain agree on easing mortgage payments but he says Mr. McCain’s “could be a giveaway to banks.”

Mr. McCain comes back by bringing up a plumber named Joe Wurzelbacher who met Mr. Obama recently in Ohio. Mr. McCain is using Joe as a vehicle to say that Mr. Obama wants to raise taxes. Mr. Obama says he provides three times the tax cuts as Mr. McCain does. And what he told Joe is that he wants to make sure he gets a tax break now.

The Candidates | 9:04 p.m. And they’re out on stage, striding toward each other. Mr. McCain adopts Mr. Obama’s habit of clutching his opponent’s upper arm with his left hand while they shake hands.

The Moderator | 9:01 p.m. Bob Schieffer of CBS is coming out on the stage now. He’s clutching a black notebook stuffed with papers. He pays homage to the late Tim Russert and says he regrets he isn’t there. He says Mr. Russert would say to him, “Can you believe it, can you believe this campaign?” And Mr. Schieffer says he would answer, “No.”

Greetings | 8:49 p.m. Hi everybody.

We’re trying to prepare for life without debates, which will be the cold reality after tonight. After all, we’ve had about 50 of them since April of last year.

So we’re going to savor this last face-to-face encounter between Senators John McCain and Barack Obama — and looking for some answers about the economy, which, as you probably know, took another turn for the worse today as Wall Street suffered through a huge selloff late in the day. Even Ben Bernanke, the chairman of the Fed, warned that a recovery “will not happen right away.”

Tune in with us at nytimes.com and watch live video, read the live blogs, see the facts checked quickly, and join the chatter.

Members of the Commission on Presidential Debates are addressing the live audience at Hofstra University now (message: be quiet!).

Among the notables in the audience: Hillary Clinton, Caroline Kennedy, Nancy Pelosi, Gov. David Patterson of New York, all on the Democratic side; and on the Republican side, Mitt Romney and former Senator John Danforth of Missouri. And check out Ed Koch, the former New York mayor, who got there pretty early, judging by all the empty seats around.