Far be it from me to conclude, but I believe that John Kerry won the debate. To be charitable you could say that it was a DRAW (which means that Bush, as incumbent, lost). This is the president of the most powerful nation on earth? Kerry was calm, meticulous, rational. Bush got flustered, said “mixed messages” and “hard work” ad nauseum, and frequently stopped talking way ahead of his time limits simply because he basically ran out of things to say. His basic mantra for the evening was “WRONG BUT STRONG” aka “Bein’ stubborn as hell and workin’ hard’ll defeat them varmits.” And it was pretty hilarious when at one point Bush fumbled and said “mexed messages” … messages from Mexico? Text messages? I guess he thinks maybe John Kerry has been sending text messages to the terrorists.