Yup, they also did the same thing to G W Bush back in 1999. They lowered the expectations and raised the expectations of his opponent.
Guess how the debates went. ;)
Its funny, I remember reading about some polls right after the debate which gave the same paradoxical result. They thought that Gore "won" the debate, but on the question of who they would vote for they had shifted toward Bush and away from Gore. So in the way that counted Bush won...without actually winning.