McCain softening his tone?

Leading up to the second presidential debate, John McCain and his representatives made it very clear that they were going to be personally attacking Barack Obama as their new strategy to try and gain some ground in the polls. However, during the debate he did not seem to be attacking and probing as much as many of the electorate thought he would. Perhaps it was because of the format of the debate or Obama’s calm personality, but John McCain did not meet this feisty expectation. In fact, he seemed to be quirky and definitely more engaged than in the previous debate. This toned down rhetoric has even made its way into one of the recent McCain rallies. During a town hall forum in a Minneapolis suburb on Friday, McCain urged for supports to be respectful of Obama even amidst a room full of boos. Although this softened tone was apparent in several statements that he made regarding Senator Obama during the rally, this has not been the case for several negative ads that have been attacking some of Obama’s past connections. However, I think it is very important to recognize that McCain is trying to be respectful and recognize differences that are really pertinent to how either of them will run the country and not giving steam to various rumors and fueling hostility and partisanship within the electorate.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/10/AR2008101002895.html