OK, so I’m back from Pastor Rick Warren’s Saddleback presidential forum featuring John McCain and Barack Obama and I’m bushed. Get it? Uh, never mind. Maybe I’m a bit punchy after listening to the two senators for the past couple of hours and surfing madly through my notes to give you a column in Sunday’s paper on the forum.

But if you’re looking for the typical horse-race stuff from me — i.e. “Who won?” — I’m not so inclined to do that. In the spirit of Pastor Rick’s irreverent “debate” let’s stray a bit from that sort of hackneyed analysis because I’d have to say everyone won.

Like most reporters, I watch the debates. I watch pretty much all of them. Even though they drive me up the wall! That final ABC debate for the Democratic candidates in Pennsylvania was a real turning point, I thought. It was preposterously bad because the moderators did such a poor job of fleshing out the positions of Clinton and Obama.

There were some critics before Saturday’s forum who wondered if Warren would just lob softballs to the presidential hopefuls. And while he did at times (even admitting as much) he also had some tough ones, too, like “Which Supreme Court justices would you have opposed?”

I wasn’t surprised by any of their answers. I’m very aware of their positions. But it was nice to see the both of them in more unguarded moments, forced to be themselves. I interviewed many Saddleback church members afterward and they all said they were impressed by both candidates and were glad they got to know them a bit better.

Let’s face it. People say they vote on the issues, and they do to some extent, but they also vote for candidates they like. Likability if the number one asset any presidential candidate can have. On that score they both came off as affable fellows — people you’d love to have at your next cocktail party.

I wish I could have met them, but the organizers kept reporters sequestered in one of the campus tents and we had to watch them on a big-screen TV. One of the helpers told me I wasn’t allowed to interview churchgoers after the forum, but I never intended to abide by that rule. My readers come first!

I hope you enjoy my column. Look for it in the Pilot on Sunday. If you don’t like it don’t be shy. Send me an e-mail at paul.anderson@latimes.com or give me the raspberries here on the blog. I can take it.

I’ll tap out more impressions from the forum — empty my notebook, as we like to say — when I get some time later to sift through my notes.

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