[Stonedog]

They were probably watching the same debate that I was. The one where the President was asked all the hard questions, and John Kerry contradicted himself 3 times in the same sentence. President Bush did miss a lot of opportunities, but he did reasonably well for the first half of the debate. He then got frustrated in the second half and fell back on the same lines too often instead of attacking the obvious gaffes Kerry made (other than the "global test").

[Niks]

I think you're exactly right!!! I Tivoed the debate and watched it again yesterday. My initial reaction on debate night was that Bush didn't do well, but I was very surprised when I re-watched it at how strong he was in the first half of the debate. I guess everyone remembered what they last saw, which was the end of the debate where the Pres repeated things and looked frustrated. My husband, on the other hand, thought Bush was the winner all along.