Let's just see how this is spun. Bush is not playing dirty, which is his problem. So far Kerry has used bad stats and deliberate misinformation, and Bush only called him once on the Iran sanctions thing.
Bush needs to attack Kerry and get him off his rocker. Kerry's answers are nuanced enough to need 1 minute for every 30 seconds he speaks. Bush only gets 90 seconds.
I get disheartened when I listen to Kerry because I sometimes think there are enough fools in this country to believe every word a lying bastard says... (see Bill Clinton). Free Republic bolsters my hopes for this election because it shows me thousands of people who can see Kerry for what he really is.
That's what W has failed to grasp tonight. There are those wafflers out there who need someone to tell them point blank what the facts are and Bush is failing at that. Kerry is standing straight and tall and spitting out confidence with "facts" and that's what those fence sitters will notice. They won't see that Kerry is lying, but only that he came across more confident.
All Kerry could do is talk about is how he had a better "plan" for Iraq and how Bush is "doing it all wrong" but he never defines exactly what his plan is.
Kerry kept talking about international coalitions and how he would do better at getting more allies to help us with Iraq. As if the few hundred troops he could possibly extract from France or Germany would really make much of an impact.
Bush appeared nervous and hesitant at times but didn't make any serious gaffes.
Net result is that this will have negligible result in the polls. IF anything, undecided voters were turned off by Kerry's lecturing, overbearing style.