the problem is putting your views on that of a swing voter.
most swing voters respond to attacks on candidates, but not when done by the other candidate directly. It looks mean. Bush had openings but didn't take them precisely for this reason - maybe that's why he was feeling frustrated. ut john kerry did. He attacked bush in ways that turn off most swing voters. Bush took it and remained generally affable. Probably as close as he could have gotten to the 'there you go again' tone of reagan considering the pinhead he's up against.
Don't worry about how things looked tonight. Every knows Bush and where he stands. If anything comes out of the debate tonight it'll be that Kerry is as liberal as everyone says, doesn't have a good grasp on the how the real world works, and is also willing to tell lies in front of a national audience during a debate. Check out Drudge he already has 2 listed and I'm sure there are more where that came from. He's going to be made into mince as the transcripts of this debate get scrutinized.
I keep wanting Bush to defend himself more aggressively and knock kerry on his rear, but then I remembered that Bush never does that.
That being said, I didn't think Bush did very well in the debate.