Debate #1 comments

I listened to the debate and the spinners afterwards. Nothing new, nothing earth shattering from either side. Both seem to have ammunition to use in ads but not a clear winner as in the Bush/Gore debates where Bush clearly won. The consensus seems to be that Kerry helped himself and may get a point or two out of it. I think he needed to do more to define himself. There is a lot of ammo that Bush's team will use as they have in the past. Same for Kerry's people. Kerry did not answer or address several outstanding questions that Bush raised. If I were being just partisan I would say Bush won just as his spinners said. But in truth this debate hasn't changed anything much. Kerry wasn't orange, didn't make any blunders at the debate. Bush looked good, also didn't make any blunders, explained his positions very well. Kerry has said he has a plan but didn't explain it etc. In order for Kerry to make inroads he had to have a slam dunk and that clearly didn't happen.

What the bloggers thought:

Power Line ran a live reaction to the debate and said, "On the whole, though, I think Kerry helped himself tonight."

Hugh Hewitt has a nice point by point table of the debate and had this to say, "Overall: Bush gets a big win, by hitting all his messages over and over again. He wins on substance. Biggest mistake by Kerry: "The Global Test."  Sorry, the American voters aren't interested in passing any global tests. Bush stresses steadfastness and resolve.  Kerry firmed up the hard-left vote, but you can't win on this."

At the liberal site The Washington Monthly they had this to say, "Wrapup: I don't really have anything very creative to say. Neither candidate made any huge mistakes." But of course he thought Kerry did better than Bush.

Most of the posters at Instapundit seem to agree there was no clear winner.

I'm a political junkie and it will be fascinating to see what the polls show in the coming days and what those out there who don't pay that much attention think after the debate.