Excellent issue by issue recap of last night's Presidential Debate. I agree with Kaplan that

Kerry slammed this thing out of the ballpark, not just on points but also on punch lines, style, and demeanor.

Bush sounded bad. Listen to the sound bites that are being used by radio and TV news. There is hardly a single one where Bush doesn't stumble to some extent. There were a lot of "ums" and "ahs" and out right pauses. That is not how you convince people. That is how you sound like fourth-grader who finished the book for your oral book report the night before. (I read a comment like this some where, but can't find where--just wanted to admit that it isn't original to me.)

Bush also got exasperated way too early. I was listening to parts (as I surfed atlases to figure out just where different countries are), and had to look up to see if Bush looked as desperate as he sounded. Mickey Kaus puts it well:

He looked--as a friend of mine put it--a bit like a gargoyle, or someone who needed the podium for protection

Overall, Kerry did a lot better than I expected. Everyone had been talking him up, much like Gore was talked up 4 years ago, but he delivered. There was no eye rolling. He appeared confident, but not smug. He was continually polite to Jim Lehrer (unlike the President, who kept audibly requesting extensions). He was good. I just hope that the next two debates are just a clean.