Bush sounded somewhat unprepared at the beginning. Kerry came across as confident and knowledgable. Kerry wins the Iraq discussion insofar as he did not sound like a waffler (though he most certainly IS and I am sure that Republican ads and talking points will hit this hard). Bush came across much stronger at the end when they talked abou NK, Iran and Russia. Kerry's claim to have "never waivered in my life" was a LOL moment and this will be used against him with good effect. The "global test" exchange was a definite winner for Bush.
I give the edge to Kerry but doubt this will make much difference in the polls. We will see.
Peter Jennings reported that their ABC poll showed that 45% believed Kerry won the debate, 36% believed Bush won. BUT Bush picked up one percent of those polled in terms of who they'd vote for. He started with 50% of the votes of those polled, and ended with 51%. Go figure!