Kerry was slick and appeared more intelligent. However all he did was complain and whine without offering detailed plans of his own. If this was an open seat, Kerry would surge in the polls. However it is not. The swing voters will give Bush the benefit of the doubt. People don't like "Monday Morning Quarterbacks". In order to unseat an incumbent, the challenger must give proposals with substance. All Kerry has to offer are flip-flops.
Kerry WAS slick and full of 'masterful rhetoric.' My husband has a brother who is a professor at a large University. He has mastered the art of rhetoric. But when you actually start to break down what he has said, it's total garbage. It sounds good as it comes out of his mouth, but as it hangs in the air and begins to hover around you, you notice it's hot and quite smelly. Kerry is exactly the same way. All jabberwocky.
It's easy to wax eloquent when all you have are words. (Ted Bundy was quite eloquent, for that matter. As was Hitler!)
The President, on the other hand, is a passionate man of action - a good man. That speaks louder than any words ever vomiting out of Kerry's mouth.