my opinion?

Kerry looked confident and on the ball.  He supported his points with facts and details.  Bush?  Lots of sputtering, uuhhs--the not-quite pregnant pauses were uncomfortable to watch.  Bush side stepped a lot of questions with wierd assumptive statements like "I'm the president, of course I know it's hard..." (a paraphrase) when answering the question of sending troops into war.  He didn't have many facts to back up his already imprecise points.  He almost looked as uncomfortable as when he debated Gore except now he's gotten comfortable in his cushy incumbent seat.  I think there is more at stake now, though and the only thing that can and may ruin this is post-debate spin.  That's what happened with the Gore debates.

11:32:56 PM    say it here

bingo...

I am finally convinced this is the man to vote for! Here is a good blow-by-blow account of the ass whupping George W. Bush got from Senator John Kerry.

http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/blog/09/30/begala.blog/

also...

I know Salon readers are fairly liberal so I don't know if their poll counts, but here are some results:

Salon

Who will win the first presidential debate?

George Bush       291

John Kerry          1981

11:08 PM, EST 

fom https://sub.salon.com/poll/?viewPoll=17

msnbc.com

Who won the debate?

George Bush   28 %

John Kerry     72%

And Time magazine has these numbers...

10:58:15 PM    say it here