Nick,
You lose credibility when you take what is essentially the position that Kerry-Edwards always win.
The simple truth is that while Edwards had a passable performance, Cheyney was very good and beat him.
So far, Cheyney has performed better than any of the other debaters, and Edwards did better than Bush did in the first debate.
In terms of performance so far, my rankings are
Cheyney 95
Kerry 82
Edwards 78
Bush 61
Wowsers, you really keep score! I guess from the debate I saw last night I was watching what I thought was the classic "style" versus "substance" debate which I award to Edwards. Since I hold a cynical view that very few people outside of forums like this actually know anything about issues, I believe that "style" trumps "substance" with the average voter. Since most voters were watching reruns of "The Munsters" on TV Land last night, in the long run this debate probably matters little.
You're right that the viewership was probably fairly small.
Also, most of the viewers already had made up their minds, and the debate really didn't change many (if any) minds.
However, it did both elate Bush supporters (some of whom are saying that Cheyney should lead the ticket) and deflate the Kerry supporters, who are reduced to mindless sputtering.
BTw, my 61 for Bush was probably a 'gift.' He really performed badly in the first debate.
