What to make of the town hall debate. Going into the debate, I thought both candidates would handle the atmosphere fine. When John Kerry campaigned in Iowa during the primaries, he regularly held town hall meetings. Also, President Bush's strength as a politician is when he gets out from behind a podium and interacts with people.

Kerry was clearly the winner in the first debate. Last night, I think he won again by coming across as more knowledgable on the issues and history. He nailed the president again on his mistakes in Iraq, his handling of the economy and the federal budget.

Bush seemed edgy and downright antagonistic. I was surprised at how he was shouting at times considering the intimate setting. Bush did do much better than he did in the first debate, but that wasn't hard to accomplish.

Kerry, on the other hand, was composed and very empathetic with the people asking the questions. He stumbled slightly during the stem-cell question, but took Bush to task for his stance on the issue. On importing prescription drugs from Canada, Kerry correctly pointed out that Bush came out in favor of it four years ago but continues to block it from happening.

I was very relieved to learn that Bush doesn't support slavery. He mentioned how the 1857 Dred-Scott decision was wrong in response to an audience member who asked him what kind of Supreme Court judge he would appoint. Also, watch out for those draft rumors on the internets.

Viewership will be down for this debate since it was held on a Friday night, but interested voters will have one more chance to watch the candidates head to head on Wednesday night.