And the winner is...
It's coming up to six in the morning here. God, I need some sleep. Was it worth staying up for this third and final presidential debate? Well, just about. Now one can now look back at the three and give a verdict, as it were. Here, the old three-round bout that made the boxing events at the Olympics so interesting comes in handy as a scoring model.
First round: Kerry comes out of the red corner swinging. Bush is caught off guard and takes a beating. Dazed, he manages to stumble back to the blue corner where his cut men, Cheney, Rove and McCain, patch him up. All cards show Kerry winning.
Second round: Bush, angry and hurtin', comes out of the defensive posture and begins to jab. Kerry takes as good as he gets and gives some back. Bush looks good on his feet, though, and the crowd gets excited. The majority of the judges call it a draw but there's a minority saying Kerry took the round by a point.
Third round: The champ is at his best, the contender his weakest. No great fistic moments, however. Dull milling at times, as Pierce Egan, the Dante of pugilism, would say. The ref is slow and doesn't warn Kerry about a low blow reference to Dick Cheney's lesbian daughter. The contender is ignoring his opponent's punches and seems to be concentrating on the women in the audience. Could prove crucial later. The champ, however, delivers the best lines of the night on the wives question. Partisan spectators are leaving the hall, now. They've seen enough. Bizarrely, Kerry seems to think Bush's cut man McCain is in his corner. Is he concussed? Ref doesn't think it necessary to stop the bout and call the ringside doctor. And there goes the bell. It's over. This judge scores it Bush. Will his corner rue the fact that he was so passive in the first round? Let's get the result.
But wait, there's no result. The score won't be tallied until 2 November. Time to change the rules, we say, as this is exhausting. It's hard on the candidates but even tougher on the crowd. Sum up: Tonight will help Bush slow up the Kerry momentum, but it won't be decisive to the outcome. It's all to play for, er, fight for. And so to bed.
