Atrios is absolutely right—debate spin is always more important than the debates themselves. For what it's worth, the most effective anti-Bush spin at this point seems to be highlighting his disconnect from reality, starting on Iraq and fanning outwards. 55 percent of Americans, give or take, now believe that the situation in Iraq is much worse than Bush says. Another good move seems to be hammering home Bush's reluctance to admit his mistakes. Bush knows full well that the media goes into attack mode whenever he does admit error—as with the Iraq-Niger-uranium claim—so he doesn't have much room to maneuver.