l Gore, veteran of three-dozen high-stakes TV debates, bludgeoned George W. Bush with details, numbers, programs, and policy paradigms.
But the Texas governor largely bore up and got in his licks. By returning fire when possible and accepting the moderator's double-barreled invitation to traduce the vice president's character, Bush enhanced his standing as a thinker on his feet, a trait for which he is not known.
Gore went factual; Bush went folksy. Moderator Jim Lehrer claimed he hadn't shown his questions in advance to anybody. Big mistake; his questions were dull, tendentious, repetitive, and contributed to the ocean of sighs that wafted upward from America's sofas over the 90 minutes.
Carped CBS's Dan Rather at the merciful end: ''There will be those who think this was a form of narcolepsy.'' But if I were a Bush supporter (pssst: I am not) I would feel encouraged that my man went toe-to-toe and handled himself pretty well in the clinches.
Did you want policy or personality? I thought Bush was overmatched on the former but stronger on the latter. Gore often seemed to understand the innards of Bush's tax and fiscal policies better than the governor himself.
Bush avoided any major gaffe or stumble but got a little shaky in grasping some questions. Bush wandered onto thin ice in an answer about intervening in potential financial crises when he said he'd ''get in touch with the financial centers not only here but at home,'' which would make sense only if he considers Boston a foreign port, which he well might.
Bush battled gamely. Gore didn't put him away. But when the issues in a peace-and-prosperity year are Social Security, Medicare, prescriptions, and education, the Democrat wins.
David Nyhan's e-mail address is nyhan@globe.com.
