INSTON-SALEM - They were so civil, the vice president and the governor, so polite as they traded opinions on world affairs and domestic policy with few barbs thrown by either candidate.
Today, it's back to the trenches.
For the next four weeks, voters can expect to hear representatives of Texas Governor George W. Bush resume highlighting the ''exaggerations'' uttered by Vice President Al Gore, suggesting that truth-stretching undercuts his credibility.
And the Gore campaign? They'll be back hammering away at Bush's record as Texas governor, accusing Bush of letting polluters dirty the environment unpunished, and of failing to provide adequate health care for children.
In essence, last night's second presidential debate at Wake Forest University was a mere speed bump in what will remain a stampede toward the presidency.
''I think we're going to continue to see a focus on his record in Texas,'' said Tad Devine, a senior advisor to Gore. ''There are real questions about whether he's up to the job of president.''
Bush's camp, meanwhile, is ready to point out and repeat what they see as misstatements by Gore - mistakes Bush's supporters said Gore did not adequately address in last night's debate.
''The vice president had this planned apology'' about his mistakes, ''and he almost didn't have a chance to get it in,'' said Michigan Governor John Engler, a Republican. ''I think you'll see a very aggressive campaign, because the stakes are so high.''
Both campaigns, predictably, gave high marks to their candidates for last night's performance. Neither accused the opposition of making an election-turning gaffe.
''Governor Bush did OK,'' said Ed Rendell, chairman of the Democratic National Committee. But Rendell said Gore hit a ''home run'' on his criticism of Texas's health care record.
Will the country see an increasingly aggressive attack on Bush's record in the final weeks? ''Sure. The American people understand that's fair game,'' Rendell said.
Gore aides said the vice president had Bush on the defensive when Gore repeated that Texas is 49th in health care provided for children, 49th for women's health care, and last in the country for family health care. Bush did not dispute those specific numbers during the debate.
For the Bush campaign, the high point of the debate was the opening 45 minutes, which focused exclusively on foreign affairs. The Texas governor opened himself up to questions about his grasp of diplomacy early in the campaign by confusing the names of foreign countries and drawing blanks in a TV pop quiz about foreign leaders.
''There's no doubt he had a strong command of the facts when it came to the long and far-ranging discussion of foreign policy,'' said Bush adviser Ed Gillespie.
Lest their candidate be open to the charges of misstatements that have dogged Gore, Bush aides sought to take the governor's mistake about a domestic issue - the fate of James Byrd's killers - and turn it into a campaign merit badge.
With the debate little more than two-thirds done, they issued a press release stating that two of the three men who had dragged the black Texan to his death had been sentenced to death, not all three as Bush stated several times. The third man received a life sentence from a jury.
The aides tried to contrast their immediate confession with Gore's explanations about his claim in the first debate that he accompanied the top federal disaster official to Texas after a series of fires in 1998. Gore later admitted he was mistaken.
''I think one of the differences you see with Governor Bush and our campaign is that we say that was a mistake and we set the record straight as soon as possible because we want voters to make a decision based on the facts,'' Gillespie said.
Mostly, Bush aides were pleased with the conversational format, which they believed allowed the governor to present himself more favorably. Bush had tried unsuccessfully to utilize the format in all three debates.
''I think that Governor Bush felt very comfortable and people were able to see his thoughtfulness and his strong convictions and his principles,'' said chief spokeswoman Karen P. Hughes. ''I think this was a format that allowed that type of discussion.''
Looking ahead, the campaigns had no great expectations for the third debate. Both candidates will spend this weekend preparing for the final face-off at Washington University in St. Louis, where the ''town hall meeting'' format should provide a showcase for Gore and Bush, both of whom regularly take audience questions on the stump.
Karl Rove, Bush's chief political strategist, said he expected the debates to have a collective impact rather than a singular one.
''I think the debates are an important part of moving the process forward and there'll be a cumulative effect,'' Rove said. ''But even after the debates, there'll be three weeks of hard campaigning.''
