Just a few thoughts about last night’s debate, tossed out in random order:

n The president underperformed. There were a few times when I felt that even I might have handled some questions and responses better than he did. He looked tired, too… a reminder that his main job is running the country and that it is a lot more exhausting than simply campaigning 24 / 7. Had he spent the day getting a manicure, as Kerry did, instead of visiting hurricane ravaged spots in Florida, he might have looked fresher. I thought he looked tired and saw that as something in his favor, from my point of view. This is the guy with the hardest job in the world, and doing it well must be exhausting.

n It bugged me that the president repeated himself quite a bit. If I heard the phrases “good people,” “working hard,” and “not what the troops need to hear” once, I heard them each a thousand times.

n The president impressed me when he fired back aggressively. When Kerry was absurd, the president told him so directly. When Kerry dropped his guard and revealed his real priorities about America and the EU, the president stated flatly that he’d never wait for another country’s permission to defend the US. I’m sure that played well in the heartland.

n How could the president allow Kerry to talk about soldier’s families who’d had to spend their own money on armor and supplies without making him justify his vote against funding the troops? That would have been a great chance to trip Kerry over his own tongue, and I hated to watch it slip away.

n Kerry performed very well, and I’m sure he energized his base, as the pundits like to say. He had a few well rehearsed lines that he used to optimal effect, which I suppose is to the credit of his handlers. Paul Begela and James Carville managed, somehow, to weave a thread of continuity through Kerry’s various public statements on Iraq and pull them together in a way that almost makes them look balanced. It must have been the spin equivalent of trying to solve a Rubik’s Cube in a dark closet.

n As slick as he was, really Kerry had nothing new to say. Arguing that bilateral talks with North Korea will work shows how little attention he paid during the 90’s. Arguing that the president should have tried more diplomacy before invading Iraq shows the same thing. I suppose, however, that he’s stuck with that line about Iraq if he’s going to find a way to stay on that fence.

n Overall, Bush seemed tired and a bit distracted last night, and I’d hoped for a more substantial assessment of Kerry’s haphazard Senate record than he provided us. Kerry was smug and slick and smooth and totally transparent.

Like most partisans, I went into the debate knowing who I was voting for, and nothing has changed. Of course, I’ll be reading as much as I can to see how it all shakes out...