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Phil Pitts may be a Republican who agrees with GOP presidential candidate Sen. John McCain on many military and economic issues, but he came away from watching Friday night’s first debate more impressed with Democrat Sen. Barack Obama. Before the debate started in Oxford, Miss., Pitts had seldom heard Obama speak and was concerned that the Illinois senator had only four years experience in Washington.

“What John McCain did tonight is the same thing Richard Nixon did in 1960—and I’m old enough to remember that,” says Pitts, 64. “He legitimized [his opponent’s] campaign. Obama showed he could really answer the questions. He’s very knowledgeable, and I don’t think a lot of people realized that.”

McCain “came off as someone aloof and condescending at times, like a father chastising his child,” says Pitts, a retired teacher from the Pittsburgh suburbs. He usually votes Republican in presidential races, but this year he’s undecided. “I voted for George Bush,” he says, “and I’m very sorry I did. I don’t like the war in Iraq. I don’t like the economy. I don’t like (Gov.) Sarah Palin: she’s much too conservative and she’s just not qualified.”

McCain impressed Pitts with the way the tongue-tripping names of world leaders flowed from his lips and his knowledge of foreign affairs gained from four terms in the Senate. Pitts also liked the line McCain drew against meeting with dictators from North Korea and Iran—a point of sharp contrast with Obama.

McCain seemed knowledgeable about national security and foreign affairs from personal experience, while Obama seemed well coached, he said. Though topics like Iran, Iraq, Russia and terrorism were supposed to be the focus of the debate, the nation’s economic market meltdown of the past week changed that plan. About one-third of the debate was focused on economic issues.

Pitts said that both candidates promised to put tighter restrictions on Wall Street now that the federal government is in the middle of bailing out the financial industry. But, he said, McCain seemed less likely to keep the tighter regulation over the long term. Obama, by contrast, impressed Pitts with his focus on keeping jobs in the United States.

In Pitts’ book, McCain failed to distinguish himself from the Bush administration, though he tried. McCain noted where he had parted ways with the president, but “How can you be a maverick if the record shows you voted 90 percent of the time with the person most people don’t like?”

Although Pitts came away leaning toward Obama, he said he will watch with interest the next two presidential debates and Thursday’s vice presidential debate between Palin and Democratic candidate Sen. Joe Biden.