"The" Debate

I watched (and recorded) the first Presidential candidate debate on MSNBC last night. I was pleased with Kerry's performance; he exceeded my expectations, though I admit I was fearful he would fail horribly. I thought Kerry did a much better job than usual at being clear and making his points. I also thought he made some really cojent arguments against Bush that were new to me and seemed very effective. For example, he said that in George H.W. Bush's book he said that he didn't invade Iraq, not because it wasn't a danger, but because there was no viable exit strategy. I love that he used his father's own words against him. Bush held his own and neither one got terribly flustered. The format of the debate was such that there wasn't much chance it was going to get out of hand no matter what. The format also allowed them both to sell themselves with minimal impact on the other's position. They could, and did, criticise one another, but they could not actually question one another directly or in any way push the other to answer the question asked. Given the constraints of the format I am pleased with the outcome. On KUOW this morning they said that each candidate is now trying to claim he was the winner, but I don't think there are going to be clear winners in any of these debates because of the format they chose.