John Kerry did. Definitely. He came off as articulate and well-informed. Bush, on the other hand, was flustered and angry. Kerry kept his cool. I have actually heard some people say that Kerry's cool worked against him because "real people" want to see a human being that gets angry and flustered. I don't know about that: when my leader is involved in delicate negotiations, I don't want him to fly off the handle. But maybe that's just me.

Admittedly, the debate was tilted in favor of Kerry to begin with. If Bush had had his way, the debate would put Kerry on the defensive, forcing him to answer questions about his record and his past. Jim Lehrer, however, correctly chose to put the current president in the hot seat. The debate's stated topic was international policy and homeland security. A senator has very little to do with this; foreign policy is the jurisdiction of the president. As such, the president was on the defensive, forced to justify his actions while Kerry attacked him. Nevertheless, Bush could have done a better job defending himself. He fell into the trap of repeating catchphrases without providing support for those phrases, as though they stood on their own without the need for evidence or explanation. He also indicated several times that Kerry was reducing troop morale by "sending mixed messages." If anything has reduced troop morale, it's being in Iraq in the first place! Kerry doesn't need to tell the troops that going into Iraq was a bad idea; they know it already!

For his part, Kerry succeeded in making a case that he wasn't a flip-flopper and beat it into the minds of viewers that President Bush lied about going into Iraq. He also finally dispelled the fallacy of our "Coalition of the willing," which consisted of the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Poland, and thirty-some other countries that are relatively unimportant. Bush tried to make Kerry out to be some sort of unfeeling monster who didn't care about the contributions of other countries, but in the end, he came off as trying to revive the dead: the "coalition of the willing" trope had been laid to rest. Kerry's major problem was that he talked about a plan for getting out of Iraq but never elaborated on that plan. He spoke in generalities, not specifics.

But he still won. The television debate forum has always been about which candidate looks better. Kerry was assertive, collected, and rational. Bush appeared confused, angry, and illogical. I can't wait for the second debate.