For swing voters that may not be as heavily intune with the election and issues as many partisans are I think Kerry came off better being the more articulate of the two. In that sense he won the debate. However I thought Bush had more substance and Kerry contradicted himself and/or misspoke quite a bit. Claiming he never called Bush a liar...he did twice, claiming the subways were shut down in NYC during the RNC...they weren't. But Bush did not capitalize on the biggest mistake Kerry made of the night. Kerry made his point clear during the debate that Saddam was not a threat stating he was contained and 65% of Iraq was under no-fly zones. But then in his closing statement he said Saddam was a threat. Had Bush capitalized on that at the beginning of his closing statement that might have put the final nail in Kerry's coffin and I would expect the polls to be growing. Instead I think they will shrink making the race tighter. In that sense Kerry won the debate.