"I confess that I've never watched a presidential debate in an atmosphere so reminiscent of a pro wrestling crowd." So writes John Hinderaker of the pro-Bush Powerline blog. He was at the Minneapolis Hilton last night, along with the people behind Captain's Quarters and Shot in the Dark and others in the "patriotic" camp.
If you ever wondered what a party of bloggers sat round a table in a hotel ballroom looked like now is your chance to check out the photographs.
In terms of style and presentation, the last debate was closer than the previous two. Mr Bush had ditched his sometimes petulant air for warmth and charm, and, in some of the answers at least, Hinderaker felt he had something to cheer for. "For me, the defining moment came near the end, when moderator Bob Schieffer of CBS asked the candidates an open-ended question about religion. Bush's answer was perfect: straightforward, inclusive, heartfelt."
But he still hesitates to put it in the win column for the president. "On the whole I thought that Kerry did somewhat better than Bush on the ordinary domestic policy issues. He was almost always on the attack and was better able to back up his arguments with (often misleading) data. On the other hand, Bush did better than Kerry on the 'social' or 'values' issues."
The same analysis is shared by Andrew Sullivan's Daily Dish, a blog moving away from the president with some reservations. Even so, his "big surprise" is that Mr Kerry won the exchanges on fiscal discipline, guns and immigration. "I sat slack-jawed as I watched Kerry clearly seem tougher on illegal immigrants than Bush! This is Bush's big weakness with his base."
Those at the pro-Kerry Daily Kos are delighted by the instant or near-instant polls that cast the encounter as a tie or a clear win for the senator (set out on Donkey Rising). The site even wonders if Mr Bush is repeating the mistakes Al Gore made in 2000 by turning up to each debate with a different persona. First he was "Haughty George", then "Furious George" and finally "Class Clown George", cracking jokes as he went. "Who's the flip flopper? Who was rock-steady all three debates?" asks Kos.
