"I was keeping track of the twenty questions," Kristol said. "I don't have Kerry winning any question outright. I think maybe six or seven were tied. And I have Bush winning outright a majority of the questions."

Panelist Fred Barnes concurred.

"It was clearly President Bush's best debate. He seemed to marshal all the arguments that he wanted on all these domestic issues - many of which are traditional Democratic issues, including health care."

Barnes said this was the first debate where Bush seemed "animated and strong" on the early questions. "In the others it's taken him sort of a half-hour to get rolling."

"If he had done as well in the first debate as he did tonight, he'd have a much bigger lead in this race," he added.

Panelist Morton Kondracke agreed, saying, "I think Kerry was on the defensive a lot of the time, so I think it was a much better performance by Bush."

Editor's note: