The first 20 minutes or so Trump seemed to be executing a plan to speak more softly and show the public his more reasonable side, but he pretty quickly reverted to a high-decibel, scattered, interrupting, and hectoring vintage Trump performance. By the end, he was congratulating himself on getting Obama to release his birth certificate, boasting about his superb temperament and veering toward blowing himself up in his threat to say something not very nice about Hillary Clinton’s family in retribution for her attacks on him (he pulled up short and congratulated himself for not saying it).

Before the debate, I thought Trump might make up for a substantively weak performance with some big moments that would play well in the aftermath of the debate. But he didn’t have any that I saw. That said, even during rambling, hazy answers, he repeatedly hit his major themes that politicians are all talk, that our trade deals are rotten, that Hillary has been at this for 30 years and has produced nothing, that he is a businessman who can turn around the country, that we need to be smarter and tougher.

Overall, the night was a missed opportunity but not disqualifying.

Hillary was sometimes wince-inducingly canned (“Trumped-up trickle down”). She was dull and a less vivid presence than Trump. There wasn’t any over-arching theme or inspiring notes. But it was a very competent performance. She knew her briefing book on Trump very well, and nailed him on a number of things, including not releasing his tax returns. She baited him throughout the night on his business record, and he took the bait every single time. I wondered why she didn’t have some line to use against Trump when he interrupted, which he did constantly. But it became clear that she had a rope-dope approach–establishing a certain command by smiling through it all and staying unflappable.

She surely reinforced one of her key strengths, which is the perception that she is prepared to be president, but didn’t have much to say to voters who desire change. That means she helped herself, but it’s still basically the same race.