Sarah, Dinah, and I watched the debates tonight. Dinah managed to stay away through the whole thing instead of falling asleep like a bored kid should. 
In any case…
Kerry did really well tonight. For some reason I didn’t expect him to do that well, but he was really in his element tonight. In many cases President Bush seemed to be on the defense. Way more on the defense than I expected him to be. It was really interesting and I glad we watched the whole thing. It was amazingly on focus and amazingly based in the present for how this campaign has gone so far. I would however like a count of how many times each candidate broke the rules they agreed to. Sarah and I noted many times when Bush strayed from the rules, however, I’ll admit we’re of such a mind that we’d notice that more.
People were starting to say it was over and was starting to hand everything to Bush. I admit that I was starting to lose faith. (Of course, I listen to too much talk radio especially on a station that has scared away all the non-insane-right listeners except me and a handful of others.) The debates have certainly reenergized me. While my decision has been made for a long time, I hope my fellow citizens who were undeceided are no longer.
The other thing that really struck me as intresting is what I was doing while watching the debates. I was on IRC where I hang out with many people I know. We basically had instant discussion as the debates were going on. Its really amazing what technology allows us to do. I was talking with people in California, Washington, Illinois, and Michigan. While IRC isn’t new technology, its allowed us to fact check between us and debate points as they came up.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t participate as much as I would have liked since I had to hold, feed, and put Dinah to bed. Dinah is way more important than chatting on IRC. It would have been less of a nice evening without doing that with my daughter.
One more thing, I’m watching this as I type. The Daily Show is in full effect with instant response. The best source for news with the most educated audience!