<DIV> "According to Gallup, Bush went into the first debate in 2000 with an 8-point deficit and came out with a 7-point lead. And despite conventional wisdom, this is not because Gore was an awful debater. He's actually pretty good. But Bush was apparently much, much better. I sure hope he's not that good this year — especially since a major gaffe (<A href="http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2004_09/004796.php">as I speculated about yesterday</A>) probably won't actually hurt him that much. At any rate, the famous debate gaffes of yesteryear sure don't seem to have done as much damage as people think. Bottom line: George Bush is the intergalactic champion of presidential debates. John Kerry has his work cut out for him." <A href="http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2004_09/004799.php">http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2004_09/004799.php</A></DIV> <hr size=1>Do you Yahoo!? <a href="http://vote.yahoo.com">vote.yahoo.com</a> - Register online to vote today!