I believe these debates are aimed at one group, and one group only. Political junkies are not the people on the fence. Thus it is the person with a mediocre interest in details that a candidate wants to connect with.
President Bush did this beautifully. He is plain spoken and his natural body language gives the viewer a feeling of his honesty.
On the other hand, Kerry spoke as most senators do and it bores the non-political ear and mind. The mechanical man arms and hands were a riot and it screamed insincerity.
It's funny to listen to the pundits pore over the minutia as if this is rocket science. My guess is that the targets of this debate turned the channel before the talking heads cleared their throats. And I bet a lot of them walked away with a good feeling about the real man, George Bush.
Yes, this debate was geared toward those who don't usually pay any attention to anything much and it was so plodding,so biased,and Kerry was sooooooooooooo wonkish,that I bet that any people stopped watching very early on; probably when Kerry began his "I WAS IN VIETNAM" comments.
By everyone's immediate lights,supposedly President Bush lost EVERY SINGLE DEBATE IN 2000. But WHO is president now...algore of PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH? This is something the doom&gloom naysayers are completely ignoring.