My first impression and comment are regarding the first impression. The impression I got from watching and listening from start to finish was that Senator Kerry came out way above expectations, and President Bush came in way below. In terms of being Presidential, I believe the President lost more points than the Senator gained if the measure is style-based, but neither did particularly well in the substance column, with Kerry eeking out a slight lead here (IMHO).

Senator Kerry was all over the confidence, style, and stature. He stood up straight, which is saying more than we can for the President. He hit the times, he brought up some nice stinger points, and he was not as preachy or condescending as we were lead to believe he might be. He was concise and clear in his points (though he's not satisfying most with clarity on certain issues) and he appeared comfortable.

President Bush, on the other hand, was off his game. I don't want pile on from my little corner of the world, since it won't get me anywhere anyway, but I did find myself wincing a bit with his obvious lack of sync with the situation. As someone said on the Imus show, his expressions sometimes suggested that he was frustrated that he would have to keep talking for all two minutes. Humorous, but probably not far from correct. The slouching on the podium has to stop.

I used to lead the students in the pledge of allegiance when I was in high school, reciting it each morning over the school PA system. There was a printed version of the pledge on a wooden placard that I never referred to... until one morning, half-way through, I realized that I wasn't listening to what I was saying and once I stepped out of my rote recitation, I had absolutely no idea what word came next. I scrambled for the board, gathered the fading memory of what may have been the last word I actually said, and picked up from there. Watching the President wander through some of his presentation brought back that memory specifically.

At this early hour, the facts and figures that were thrown around through the 90 minute exercise-- from both sides-- are being measured and spun along with the rest of the performance. Rudy Giulliani should have a trunk and tail surgically implanted, but barring that he's doing all he can to show his Republican Fever-- and I find it sort of sickening. We can't expect anything less from partisans, and I suppose the outrageous spin+denial I've seen thus far from Giulliani et al (on both sides, actually), but I hope people aren't listening to this stuff.

Two final thoughts. Both President Bush and Senator Kerry referred to Russian President Putin by his first name, and I found that to be disappointing if only because a sitting president and a presidential hopeful should be able to refer to a peer-level world leader with a tad more respect than that. Second, in terms of factual accuracy, while one could argue that the pressure and nature of the debates are a factor in a margin of error in certain details like dollar amounts, troop strengths, names and dates, etc, I feel that something like this should be a step or two below expectations placed on an ER surgeon... mistakes happen, but they count.