Scotland's pro-independence leader steamrolls final TV debate before vote

Scotland's pro-independence leader Alex Salmond won a final TV debate on Monday just over three weeks before a historic breakaway referendum, but it wasn't clear if his combative performance would help him catch up in the polls.

In a bruising debate before the Sept. 18 referendum, Salmond relentlessly talked over and at Alistair Darling, the leader of the "Better Together" anti-independence movement, and it was sometimes hard to hear what was being said.

With the campaign to break up the United Kingdom and sever Scotland's 307-year union consistently trailing in opinion polls by an average of up to 14 percentage points, Salmond's supporters were looking for a game-changing performance after he failed to sparkle in the first such encounter. Salmond, 59, did much better this time.

In a snap Guardian/ICM poll released soon afterwards, 71 percent of over 500 respondents judged that Salmond had won, against 29 percent who said they thought Darling had triumphed.

Professor John Curtice of Strathclyde University, a polling expert, also deemed Salmond had won. But he questioned whether the nationalist leader's rhetorical victory would translate into a win at the ballot box.

"A debate doesn't necessarily win you votes," said Curtice, saying it had been notable for its lack of proper discussion about wider economic questions.

"My glance at the flash poll is that while Salmond was the obvious winner, it doesn't seemed to have moved votes at this stage," he said.

Salmond got more cheers in Glasgow, Scotland's biggest city, than Darling, 60, who attracted the odd groan. But Salmond didn't advance new arguments or land a knock out blow.

Instead, over the course of a scrappy hour-and-a-half, he repeatedly interrupted Darling and asked him the same few questions time and time again, a tactic which unsettled the former British finance minister who at times audibly struggled to find a riposte.