I think that GW and his team set up Kerry by deciding to let Kerry just go for it during the first 2/3's of debate #1. They figured that Kerry had seen the questions and was ready to ramble at full speed. So they had GW stand back and let Kerry do his normal thing, unchecked with the help of the liberal moderator.
The Republicans have fact checkers vetting every lie, every Rathering, every answer, every response and utterance that Kerry made tonight in the first debate.
We will see many of those answers, responses, and utternances in hard hitting ads for our side.
This will set the stage for debates 2 and 3. If Kerry repeats himself re bad answers, responses and utterances in debate #2, he will have defeated himself with his own mouth. Kerry's responses will become great ads for GW.
They set Kerry up in Debate #1 by having GW set back, listen and allowing Kerry to Rather to America.
I hope you are right. Unfortunately, I fear that, while the Republicans hve a strategy, the game is fixed. As Mr. Lehrer demonstrated, it's easy for the moderator to subtley control the process. The Left is so firmly entrenched in the MSM that I doubt President Bush will get a fair shot.