Kerry vs. Bush, Round 2
Well, that was interesting.
Initial reaction: Kerry won the debate pretty handily on substance, and wasn't bad stylistically. I have a feeling it'll shake out that he did better with undecideds, in general.
Bush was agressive, but came off as loud and snarling in the first part of the debate. He seemed to calm down a little bit later which helped him, and it was probably a mild improvement from the embarrasment of the first debate, but still not exactly quality presidential material.
Probably a similar result to what happened in the VP debate overall, with the center reacting a little better to Kerry but little overall ripple in the polls.
I think the biggest challenge Kerry faces is simply the sheer volume of distortions and such from the Bush campaign. It's difficult to stay on message and refute lies at the same time in a debate. They've been decent at using spin to make sure these things are fixed after the fact, though, so I'm not tremendously worried.
Note: As I write this, I'm relatively "Spin-Free" as I only heard a few seconds of blithering on CNN and MSNBC where the initial pro-Bush instincts were taking over. I'm willing to give this a day since I think low expectations are helping Bush here, but they won't forever.
Well, that was interesting.
Initial reaction: Kerry won the debate pretty handily on substance, and wasn't bad stylistically. I have a feeling it'll shake out that he did better with undecideds, in general.
Bush was agressive, but came off as loud and snarling in the first part of the debate. He seemed to calm down a little bit later which helped him, and it was probably a mild improvement from the embarrasment of the first debate, but still not exactly quality presidential material.
Probably a similar result to what happened in the VP debate overall, with the center reacting a little better to Kerry but little overall ripple in the polls.
I think the biggest challenge Kerry faces is simply the sheer volume of distortions and such from the Bush campaign. It's difficult to stay on message and refute lies at the same time in a debate. They've been decent at using spin to make sure these things are fixed after the fact, though, so I'm not tremendously worried.
Note: As I write this, I'm relatively "Spin-Free" as I only heard a few seconds of blithering on CNN and MSNBC where the initial pro-Bush instincts were taking over. I'm willing to give this a day since I think low expectations are helping Bush here, but they won't forever.
