Ten Reasons Why Kerry Won

1. He looked like a president. If I knew he was the one making our foreign policy decisions, I would feel comfortable knowing he was the one making the choices.

2. He successfully avoided looking like a "flip-flopper" or a "wimp." He gave his most straightforward answer yet as to his position on Iraq. Better yet, he turned it against Bush.

KERRY: Well, you know, when I talked about the $87 billion, I made a mistake in how I talk about the war. But the president made a mistake in invading Iraq. Which is worse?

Boo-ya.

3. Bush looked like a wimp. An indecisive, wishy-washy, deer-in-the-headlights, Help-Me-Karen-Hughes, whiny, wimp. The whole night. From start to finish. He did not look like a commander-in-chief.

4. Split screens. Bush didn't want them. Now we see why.

5. In fact, the Bush team set forth all kinds of rules that were geared to favor him, and Kerry STILL crushed him.

6. And Bush was supposed to have a decisive edge on foreign policy, and Kerry STILL crushed him.

7. Poland. My favorite moment of the debate.

Kerry: Secondly, when we went in, there were three countries: Great Britain, Australia and the United States. That's not a grand coalition. We can do better.

LEHRER: Thirty seconds, Mr. President.

BUSH: Well, actually, he forgot Poland.

POLAND? Not to pick on the Polish, but this is supposed to comfort us? That the fourth county is freakin' POLAND?

My initial thought was that Kerry left Poland out intentionally so Bush would mention Poland and the American people would collectively say "that's all you have?"

Since then, I've seen some suggestion that Poland actually wasn't part of the initial coalition and Bush made a mistake or lied. I'm looking for a definitive answer. I'll let you know when I find one.

8. This exchange...

KERRY: Let me just quickly say, at the current pace, the president will not secure the loose material in the Soviet Union -- former Soviet Union for 13 years. I'm going to do it in four years. And we're going to keep it out of the hands of terrorists.

LEHRER: Ninety-second response, Mr. President.

BUSH: I don't think we want to get to how he's going to pay for all these promises. It's like a huge tax gap. Anyway, that's for another debate.

Wow. Oh my. Bush just admitted that he sacrificed our national security and our efforts to eliminate nuclear materials in Russia because he wanted a tax break. I hope the press seizes on this one. I haven't heard it mentioned much yet.

9. Insta-polls

10. The Republicans admit it. Former Republican Congressman Joe Scarborough.... "As far as the debate goes, I don't see how anybody could look at this debate and not score this a very clear win on points for John Kerry."

And Rudy Giuliani and John Stewart on the Daily Show.... All Rudy had was talking points about flip-flops, and Big Bad John schooled him. The Republican lackeys standing behind Rudy looked stunned by what they had seen go down the whole evening.