Atrios adds CNN/USA Today/Gallup -- Kerry 53, Bush 37. And in case you don't click on his links, he's getting that from the Kerry-Edwards site, which provides some choice pundit quotes, among them

Mort Kondracke: "This is the President's turf, this is the place that the President is supposed to dominate, terror and the war in Iraq. I don't think he really dominated tonight. I think Kerry looked like a commander-in-chief."

Kate O'Beirne, National Review Online’s the Corner: "I thought the President was repetitive and reactive."

Joe Scarborough: "It was John Kerry's best performance ever ... 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." (MSNBC)

Tim Russert: "Tonight he seemed to find his voice for the Democratic view of the world."

Fred Barnes on FNC: "Kerry did very well and we will have a Presidential race from here on out."


I'll add this, from Deborah Orin, a GOP apparatchik at the New York Post:

It may have been the worst debate that President Bush has ever had -- while Democrat John Kerry scored one of his best....

It's almost as if Bush and Kerry swapped places -- it was Kerry who was focused and aggressive while Bush sounded more like the senator, tangled into jargon and using insider phrases like "six-party talks" with North Korea.

Kerry also had a laser-clear way of presenting himself as the agent of change for people who fear America is on the wrong track, summing Bush's program in four cold words, "More of the same." ...

The debate could give Kerry a fresh start and a real rebound -- and will force Bush and his aides to rethink their entire debate strategy, because it certainly didn't work last night.

"I think we've got a long campaign ahead of us," said Kerry spokesman Mike McCurry with a smile. And he was almost certainly right.

Above all, by being the dominant figure in a debate with the president, Kerry validated himself as a potential commander-in-chief and set himself on a more equal footing.

Bush also got caught by the camera at times scowling or looking peeved as he listened to Kerry's remarks, and the president even seemed to make some audible sighs, shades of Al Gore in 2000....

Indeed.