It’s Debatable: In the first of three presidential debates, Hillary Clinton delivered a calm, measured, and mostly factual performance, opening the door for Donald Trump to ramble, interrupt, sniff, dissemble, and roll his eyes. Trump was unusually controlled in the opening minutes, but Clinton gradually got under his skin until, toward the end, he was in a full rant that ended with the ironic declaration that “I think my strongest asset, maybe by far, is my temperament.”

In an increasingly tight race, the candidates need to sway voters. Going into last night’s debate, between 15 and 20 percent of voters were undecided, but debates don’t have a great history of changing voters’ minds.

Clinton and Trump have some sharp policy differences. Clinton spoke about building the economy through strengthening the middle class while Trump promised to cut taxes on business and the wealthy to spur job growth. In one of those awkward scripted comebacks, Clinton called Trump’s economics “trumped-up trickle-down.”

Clinton attacked Trump’s primary credential, his business success, painting him as a rich kid who got started with $14 million from his father. She said, “He really believes that the more you help wealthy people, the better off we’ll be and that everything will work out from there.”

She spoke about Trump’s habit of stiffing people who’ve worked for him and she mentioned specifically one architect who designed a golf clubhouse and wasn’t paid. Trump brushed it off with, “Maybe he didn’t do a good job and I was unsatisfied with his work…”

Clinton pointed out that Trump’s applications for casino licenses revealed that in some years he paid no federal income tax. Trump quipped, “That makes me smart.” Trump repeated his promise to release his tax returns after a federal audit is complete, but Clinton said, he must be hiding something; “It must be something really important, even terrible, that he’s trying to hide.”

She reminded voters that early in his career Trump’s company was sued for barring black people from renting his apartments. Trump said, “We settled the suit with zero — with no admission of guilt. It was very easy to do.”

Still, while Clinton played the policy wonk, Trump was able to get through with his message and branding, talking about a failed economy, a weakened military, getting screwed on trade deals, and crime in the cities. He promised that his tax cuts would create millions of jobs. “That’s going to be a job creator like we haven’t seen since Ronald Reagan. It’s going to be a beautiful thing to watch.”

He was aiming at voters in the states that will decide the election. “You go to New England, you go to Ohio, Pennsylvania, you go anywhere you want, Secretary Clinton, and you will see devastation where manufacture is down 30, 40, sometimes 50 percent.”

Trump called for “law and order” and the return of “stop and frisk” random police checks, which were ruled unconstitutional. He bragged about getting President Obama to prove he’s a US citizen.  “I think I did a great job and a great service not only for the country, but even for the president, in getting him to produce his birth certificate.” Clinton responded, “Well, just listen to what you heard.”

At one point, Trump bragged that he had spent the last week campaigning while Clinton was at home. Clinton responded, “I think Donald just criticized me for preparing for this debate. And, yes, I did. And you know what else I prepared for? I prepared to be president.”

Shooting Gallery: A troubled lawyer wounded nine people in a Houston strip mall yesterday before he was shot dead by the police. The suspect’s Porsche was found to have a number of weapons in it. And in Skagit County, Wash., authorities say 20-year-old Turkish-born Arcan Cetin, a legal U.S. resident, has confessed to killing five people in a shopping mall. He’s being held on $2 million bail.

Permawar: Syrian forces backed by Russia continue to pound the city of Aleppo in what has become some of the most ferocious action of Syria’s five-year civil war.

No. 16: The Florida Marlins opened last night’s game with a home run on the way to beating the Mets 7-3 in a match dedicated to the memory of pitcher Jose Fernandez, who was killed in a boating accident early Sunday. Every member of the Marlins wore a jersey with “Fernandez” across the shoulders and his number, 16.

-30-