ALBUQUERQUE — If there were John McCain supporters gathered around the TV on Tuesday night who yelled and jeered and howled in disgust at Barack Obama, it sure wasn’t at the McCain/Palin Victory ‘08 headquarters in Albuquerque, where the town hall meeting engendered less emotion than a rerun of “American Idol.”

Over the course of 90 minutes of questions, answers, thrusts and jabs, there couldn’t have been more than three or four minutes of outburst from the Albuquerque audience — no loud cheers, whistles or invective — which perhaps says something about this stage of the presidential campaign.

It was almost as if every line of the night had been heard before, as had the inevitable response.

About three dozen people gathered to watch the town hall meeting in the cavernous back room of the McCain headquarters on Jefferson Street Northeast, including Rep. Heather Wilson and her family. Many watchers were campaign volunteers who had arrived early and spent an hour or two before the debate calling voters from banks of telephones. Outside, a barbecue grill churned out hot dogs and hamburgers; the Republicans’ drink of choice appeared to be bottled water.

Like the audience at Belmont University in Nashville, the McCain HQ crew applauded politely when the two candidates walked on stage, and for the first few minutes they watched silently. Not a peep as Obama talked about the “failed policies of the last eight years,” or as McCain trotted out his $300 billion plan to purchase failing mortgages. There was no applause when either candidate mentioned Warren Buffett as a potential Treasury secretary.

Only when McCain took a swipe at Obama’s alleged links to the powers behind Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac — “Some of us stood up” against the excesses of Wall Street, McCain said; “Others took a hike” — did the crowd briefly come to life.

For much of the discussion on the nation’s financial woes, the Albuquerque audience members seemed inured to the candidates’ answers. No one uttered a sound when Obama declared, “I’m cutting more than I’m spending,” or when McCain repeated his familiar line that Obama was the “most liberal big spender in Congress.”

Some of the questions posed by the town hall audience were quite good, but still didn’t get a rise out of listeners, such as the one that asked, “How can we trust either one of you with our money when both parties got us into this global economic crisis?” Perhaps the best question was from a woman who grew up during the Depression who wanted to know what sacrifices the candidates would ask of Americans to help the country back on track.

McCain said he would consider freezing all government spending except defense and veterans affairs, but seemed to suggest the country could “get it all done” without much sacrifice — a line that went over well among the Albuquerque faithful.

Obama used the question as a springboard to another topic — his energy plan — but linked the theme of sacrifice to the country’s need to conserve. If anyone in the audience expected to hear him ask Americans to put on another sweater and keep their tires pumped up, they kept it to themselves.

The crowd was much more engaged when the talk turned to taxes. No one in the McCain headquarters appeared to believe Obama’s plan to cut the taxes of 95 percent of Americans, even after he explained it a couple of times, but neither did they throw Fritos bags at the TV. McCain’s call for voters to check “the rhetoric and the record” of his opponent seemed to warm up the crowd for one of his favorite lines of the campaign: “Our best days are ahead of us.” Big cheers.

But probably the biggest line among the GOP faithful in Albuquerque was in response to Obama’s charge that McCain had voted against alternative energy legislation. McCain shot back that the bill in question had been written by the Bush-Cheney administration and was larded with pork. “Who voted for it — that one,” McCain said, pointing to his rival and delighting his fans.

Perhaps most surprising was how quiet the audience was during the foreign policy portion. The familiar arguments about who was right on Iraq and the surge, chasing the Taliban into Pakistan and negotiating with Iran prompted little reaction from the crowd.

McCain was clearly preaching to the choir at his Albuquerque headquarters, but not everyone there was a convert. In fact, Jon Chavez dropped in to watch the town hall meeting there because he’s still trying to figure out who to vote for. He was not swayed Tuesday night, he said.

“I definitely thought both had some good points,” he said. McCain had stronger arguments, Chavez said, and Obama often seemed to backtrack and to be on the defense. The Republican scored some good hits on foreign policy, but the Democrat was better on health care, he said. “I’m still on the fenceline,” he said.

Suzette Presti came in leaning toward McCain, she said, but this debate solidified her support. “He just seemed so presidential — positive but firm. The tone he set was respectful, but he seemed like he was going to stand up for his point of view.”

Obama “didn’t measure up,” she said. “He wouldn’t answer the questions and repeated his old lines. I guess I’d like to hear him be more direct, and if he had a position that wasn’t popular, I wish he’d just say it. It’s disingenuous.”

Lane Mogford said he was in the McCain camp already, but said the town hall meeting confirmed his choice. “It’s hard to nail Obama down on a lot of issues,” he said. McCain, on the other hand, “displays leadership,” Mogford said. “If he says something, you can count on it.”