While Kerry wasn't quite as good as he had been during last week's debate, said Barnes, "He was still good - [but] Bush was much better."

He pronounced the verbal duel a tie.

Co-panelist Morton Kondracke disagreed:

"I think Kerry won this debate as he won the first debate. Kerry was much more aggressive and the president was basically on the defense. He didn't have new arguments. He wasn't as facile as he should have been."

Kondracke complained that for the second time in a row, Bush had failed to raise the issue of Kerry's vote against the first Gulf War, which he has invoked repeatedly as a model effort of military action by a coalition force.

Fox analyst William Kristol said that while Bush improved, it may not have been enough to get the job done.

"If you think the president was doing OK and didn't need a win in this debate, he did fine," he said. "But if one thinks that Bush missed an awful lot of opportunities to go after Kerry in the first debate - and he had to make some of them up in this debate - I'm not sure he really succeeded."

Editor's note: