Specifically, he said: "We are going to have to go out into the housing market and we are going to have to buy up these bad loans and we are going to have to stabilise home values, and that way, Americans can realise the American dream and stay in their home."
For his part, Senator Obama stuck to his message of economic populism, promising that 95 per cent of Americans would not see their taxes increase under his plan, while also insisting on improving the country's healthcare and education infrastructures.
Obama repeatedly invoked the struggles of middle class Americans, while simultaneously vilifying Wall Street bankers and their "golden parachutes" and oil company executives, who oversee record profits while the rest of the country pays high prices at the pump.
Obama also continued his efforts to link McCain with current US President George W Bush, repeating a point he made in the first debate: "I believe this is a final verdict on the failed economic policies of the last eight years, strongly promoted by President Bush and supported by Senator McCain, that essentially said that we should strip away regulations, consumer protections, let the market run wild, and prosperity would rain down on all of us. It hasn't worked out that way."
Pakistan dominated discussion on foreign policy, with Obama not mincing words in calling the Afghan-Pakistan border the central front in the war on terror, and saying: "We have to change our policies with Pakistan. We can't coddle, as we did, a dictator, give him billions of dollars and then he's making peace treaties with the Taliban and militants."
Image: Obama puts across his views during the town hall debate.
Photograph: Anthony Jacobs/Getty Images
Also read: VP debate: Palin, Biden spar over policies
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