While I'm sure there would be more laughs if you went and saw Scott Long in St. Louis, the Presidential Debate was ... interesting.

Dred Scott? I mean, way to take a stand against slavery, Dubya. My instanalysis? Kerry won, but Bush was better in the second half. Neither connected with a knockout blow or, more importantly, the audience. I think the format had something to do with it.

The spin, on the other hand, is going to focus on three things:

1. Kerry looking into the camera and saying, essentially "read my lips: no new taxes." That's going to change some votes, if leave him open in 2008.

2. Bush's freakout. That moment gives play to Bush's raspy, yelling tone for the first half. For a runner, he seemed out of breath much of the debate.

3. "Need more wood?" Keith Olbermann scored the debate (arbitrarily), called it a draw, but then came back with the classic line of the debate:

1:23 a.m. ET
Timber Update:  
In the middle of its evaluation of Bush-Kerry II, the Hooey from St. Looey, the Scorer's Table warned Mr. Bush during the course of the thirteenth round that if it proved Mr. Kerry was correct in his assertion that the President derived $84 of income from part-ownership of a timber company, the President would be severely sanctioned.

The Scorer's Table, having taken two hours to let the Blogosphere complete its due diligence (and to permit the scorer to retreat to a corner of the room, don cold compresses, and moan quietly), can now quote the truth from "Factcheck.Org": "President Bush himself would have qualified as a 'small business owner' under the Republican definition, based on his 2001 federal income tax returns. He reported $84 of business income from his part ownership of a timber-growing enterprise." Brooks Jackson's marvelous site noted that the timber interest was listed under "royalties" in his 2002 and 2003 returns, indicating The Texas Thunderbolt still has an interest in said concern.

The point awarded to Mr. Bush in the thirteenth round is hereby withdrawn and awarded to Mr. Kerry, for the latter's enterprising hoisting of his opponent on said opponent's own petard.

Mr. Bush is also penalized three points for a truth foul.
Mr. Bush is further penalized two points for getting snarky while in the act of being factually incorrect.

The thirteenth round, originally scored 2-0 for Mr. Bush, now reverts to a 1-1 draw, and the rounds awarded total now changes from 12 Kerry, 4 Bush, 3 Drawn, to 12 Kerry, 3 Bush, 4 Drawn.

The final points scoring is now adjusted from Kerry 15, Bush 12, to Kerry 16, Bush 6.  The Scorer thus designates the outcome as a Kerry victory outside the margin for statistical error.

The scorer's table reproaches President Bush for not knowing when he has wood.

Like Cheney winning on Tuesday only to lose on the appearance that he lied about meeting Edwards, Bush is going to regret getting that laugh about wood.