Tuesday night was the much anticipated debate of Sen. John Edwards of Vice President Dick Cheney. As with the 2000 debate between Cheney and Sen. Joe Lieberman, this one took place at a table with the participants seated.

Watching the debate, it was an interesting clash of styles. Cheney is widely considered the hatchet man for the Bush Administration who frequently goes on the attack against their political opponents. What was interesting was to see Edwards attempt to do some of the same while maintaining that sunny optimism that endeared him to many voters.

At the outset, Edwards wasted no time going after Cheney's repeated misleading statements linking Saddam Hussein and Iraq with al Qaeda and the events of September 11, 2001. With a CIA report calling into question such ties, I would expect the Kerry campaign to continue to harp on this point.

As expected, Edwards also confronted Cheney about the illegal business Halliburton did with countries that sponsor terrorism in the 1990s. Cheney didn't refute what Edwards said except he mistakingly sent viewers to factcheck.com. He obviously meant to send them to the non-partisan factcheck.org.

I think both candidates got their shots in throughout the debate, and I don't think either ran away a clear victor. In the end, I suppose they both did their job for their respective candidates in energizing the base.

The next presidential debate is just three days away, and I suspect like past vice presidential debates, this one will quickly fade from memory, and not affect the race significantly.