Round Two

San Francisco

So I suppose I'd better give my thoughts on tonight's debate. I watched it in the international ballroom at the hostel, apparently the largest common room at any hostel in the world. Given that the crowd were surely all pro-Kerry or Nader I was surprised at the fair hearing everyone gave Bush. The whole group of people just sat and quietly listened to everything both candidates had to say,

My immediate opinion is the debate was fairly even. Kerry dominated much of the early exchanges and I felt when he was talking about America's poor standing in the world he left Bush with no answer. But then inexplicably he allowed Bush to come back on domestic issues. Honestly - domestic issues! Just imagine it, even I could out argue that Texan fool on his astonishingly rubbish healthcare policy, yet Kerry was too busy banging on about tort reform or somesuch to make his advantage tell. In the end it was a score draw, but only because Kerry was incompetent and Bush a bit on the lucky side. The polls say it's even but that only means Bush is still just in the driving seat. The third debate will be solely on domestic policy which ought to be Kerry's strong suit but, it seems, will merely play into the hands of Bush. Had he been more impressive tonight I was ready to say Kerry was at long, long last in a position to take the election. But as I see it unless something changes there's still only going to be one winner.