This debate was one of those events in which the average viewer could come away with a different perspective, depending on his thoughts of the two candidates in the first place. It's sort of like a controversial defensive pass interference penalty. Those strongly rooting for one team or the other will see different things and talk about it the next day, while neutral observers probably will forget about it a few minutes later.

This debate probably will not cause much movement either way in the polls. Those who know Senator Kerry as indecisive had their point proven multiple times. For example, Kerry tried to explain that he only had only one position on Iraq, and his explanation was simply laughable, "I’ve had one position, one consistent position, that Saddam Hussein was a threat. There was a right way to disarm him and a wrong way. And the president chose the wrong way." On the other hand, Bush-haters like Rob Deters who calls President Bush a, "whiny defensive 80 lb. intellectual weakling" also had multiple chances to prove that point. The transcript shows that President Bush gave clear, concise answers, but it does not show his sometimes sloppy presentation of those issues- and presentation does have an effect in these debates.

One thing Deters is correct about- President Bush missed some important opportunities, and not even in the most obvious places. For example, Senator Kerry, speaking on nuclear proliferation, said, "You talk about mixed messages. We're telling other people, 'You can't have nuclear weapons,' but we're pursuing a new nuclear weapon that we might even contemplate using." Only a far-left ideology would truly believe that America is just as much of a problem in the area of nuclear proliferation as rogue nations are, that wars and conflicts are just as much the fault of both sides. This line of thinking may go over well in Madison, but it doesn't fly well with mainstream American voters. President Bush could have exploded these comments, using them as an opportunity to, once again, show moral clarity in the war on terrorism, but chose not to.