~10:55pm~ EST
MY MINI-CARNIVAL OF REACTION TO DEBATE 1: But first my reaction... I did see what I expected. I saw a wealthy Massachusetts liberal, who got his manicure earlier in the day, who was a former captain of the debate team - act like a haughty wealthy Massachusetts liberal, who had gotten a manicure that day.

You have to be honest, John Kerry loves debating. The gleeful glint in his eye during the split screen as the President would be speaking is a dead give away that Senator Kerry thinks he was able to one-up the President.

Kerry's biggest problem was on substance... when Susan Estrich, former campaign manager for Michael Dukakis, and liberal journalist Andrea Mitchell - both come out the other side saying that Kerry did not "fill the Iraq gap"...he has problems.

Former Clinton advisor Dick Morris also gave the president the win on substance...

Hugh Hewitt, my proverbial blog-father, said the media analysis missed something huge in Kerry's presentation...

And of course the blogosphere had much to say about it...

LaShawn Barber scored the win for Bush.

Blogs For Bush called it for Bush and got asked on WNYC radio to explain...

Being outnumbered nearly 4 to 1 Slantpoint took up a position in an NYC bar at a YoungDems/YoungRepubs gathering to watch the debate.

Wizbang weighed in with a specific "not true" on Kerry.

And LittleGreenFootballs in my mind had the observation of the day.