Advantage: Frankenstein

Believe whatever you want to believe, but you have to put a LOT of spin on that debate to come out saying anything except that Kerry won handily. Bush looked befuddled, he looked annoyed, he didn't answer the questions asked of him, and he didn't really respond to any accusations made of him. He simply repeated hollow catch phrases like, "it's very hard to be President." Of course it's hard! What does that even mean?

My favorite recurring exchange was when Bush would say "Kerry is sending mixed messages, he doesn't know where he stands on Iraq," and then Kerry says, "Saddam was a threat but you went about this whole thing the wrong way and now we're stuck in this war with absolutely no exit strategy and an international community that is entirely against our action. The way to get out of this is to restore the world's faith in America, build a true multi-national coalition (no disrespect to Britain and Italy -- and Poland-- but there are quite a few other countries out there who have a stake in world peace and freedom from terror... and how strong is this current "coalition" if we're bearing 90% of the casualties and 90% of the costs?), increase the international presence in Iraq, train the Iraqis to be self-sufficient, ensure Iraq and the world that America has no long-term designs on their country, and withdraw peacefully."

To which Bush responds, "Kerry is sending mixed messages, he doesn't know where he stands on Iraq."

And the conservative analysists follow the lead and say that Kerry's position still isn't clear. Aaah spin.

Anyways, this was Bush's turf. All he had to do was hammer home his record, defend why the war in Iraq was a necessary extension of the war on terror, and so forth. And he didn't do any of it. All he did was call Kerry a flip-flopper. If this was Bush's strong policy area, I can't wait to see him debate domestic policy. Until then...

Advantage: Frankenstein.