Some sample commentary:

BILL KRISTOL: I think the Bush team hoped that Democrats would be demoralized after tonight; that Bush would beat Kerry, who's already 5 or 6 points behind in the polls. That basically they would be able to keep the momentum they had built up over the last few weeks.

I don't think that happened. I think Kerry did pretty well. I think were going to have a real presidential race.

MORTON KONDRACKE: I think the race is probably going to slightly narrow. I don't think it was any victory for Kerry tonight. But I certainly don't think there was a knockout blow by the president either.

And this is the president's turf. This is the place where he was supposed to dominate - terror and Iraq. I don't think he really dominated tonight. I think Kerry looked like a commander in chief.

FRED BARNES: When you go and talk to Democrats around the country, they spend a lot of their time complaining about John Kerry as their candidate. They've been very dissatisfied with him. ...

I think they will be very encouraged by this debate and you'll hear a lot less of that complaining. And at least in the short run that's going to help the Kerry campaign.

Editor's note: