A McClatchy sports-jargon wielding short story writer ... David Lightman

Three paragraphs before there's even a hint of any subject interesting to a voter looking for actual information.

WASHINGTON — John McCain and Barack Obama punched and counter-punched on issue after issue throughout their second debate Tuesday night, but neither man knocked the other one down, much less out.

Obama loyalists will call McCain the aggressor, continuing a line of attack that the Republican nominee began on Monday, after nearly a month lagging behind Obama in national polls.

McCain triggered the point-counterpoint Tuesday as he talked about Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, the failed mortgage giants that the federal government rescued last month.

But for those who prefer to imagine an old man duke it out with a much younger man in a 'punch and counter-punch' kind of way the article is very readable. Quite suitable. It has action. It has drama. It has suspense that won't be resolved until a later time. But as for information, facts, analysis it leaves this reader searching elsewhere.