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HAMPTON, New Hampshire (CNN) -- Sen. John Kerry on Monday lambasted as "pathetic" scaremongering, Republican criticism of his comments during last Thursday's debate in which he said the president's decision to go to war should pass a "global test" of legitimacy. Asked during a town hall meeting in Hampton to explain what he meant, the Massachusetts senator said, "It's almost sad; it's certainly pathetic, because all they can do is grab a little phrase and try to play a game and scare Americans." "And if they were honest enough to give America the full quote, which America heard, they would...

The issue of what Kerry brought with him to the podium is not a petty one. A candidate who had simply a list of talking points on paper would be at a huge advantage vs. the other participant who played by the rules. Based on the most recent reports here, it sounds as if even Fox News is about to forget and drop the issue, since they've declared that they're 99% certain the object in question is a pen. It's hard to fathom what's going on here, unless they're viewing an incomplete clip of what took place. For even the...

VOTE FOR KERRY IF YOU WANT A QUAGMIRE IN IRAQ Vietnam really was a quaqmire because an overly sensitive LBJ wouldn't listen to his commanders who wanted to win the war. He didn't want to get "world opinion" mad at him. By the time Nixon was elected the "political support" to win the war was totally lost. My Vietnam Veteran buddies and I were then subject to decades of anger, frustration and ridicule as our reward for doing our duty. Would you like to see this happen again? Then vote for John Kerry. See how Mort Zuckerman sees this... By...

Bush 49%-Kerry 44% Among Likely Voters Released: October 4, 2004 By two-to-one, voters who watched the first presidential debate believe that John Kerry prevailed. But the widely viewed Sept. 30 showdown did not result in a sea change in opinions of the candidates. As a consequence, George W. Bush continues to have a much stronger personal image than his Democratic challenger, while voters express more confidence in Kerry on key domestic issues like the economy and health care. The latest national poll by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, conducted Oct. 1-3 among 1,002 registered voters,...

Was John Kerry trying to pull something at the debate last week? That question was burning up the Internet yesterday after a slo-mo review of the footage showed the Massachusetts senator taking an object out of his right pocket before the first question. Was it a cheat sheet — as some conservative bloggers claimed — or was it something innocuous? Either way, it would violate the debate rules agreed to by both campaigns: "No props, notes . . . or other tangible things may be brought into the debate." Many blogs offered links to the "Pocket-gate" footage. One, INDC Journal,...

A FOX News representative has reviewed several versions of the debate tape and is almost positive that the object in question is a black pen. "What he takes out of his pocket ... I'm almost 99% sure that it's a pen. It's a black, oblong object," a FOX News producer told INDC Journal. Let's leave it at that. The debate rules were violated in letter, but not intent, and any charges of cheating against the Kerry campaign are undeserved and inaccurate. If the tape had clearly shown that John Kerry had removed a pen from his pocket, I would not...

The latest Rasmussen Reports Presidential Tracking Poll shows President George W. Bush with 49% of the vote and Senator John Kerry with 45%.

<p>CORAL GABLES, Fla. -- Depression among Democrats had reached new depths when the presidential candidates faced off Thursday night at the University of Miami. An hour and a half later, they were elated that John Kerry's candidacy had been saved. But none of the Democratic candidate's shortcomings really had been corrected.</p>

In Nascar, the term ‘sandbag’ is used to describe a maneuver in which a driver who has a really fast car doesn’t utilize the full potential of the car’s strength during that race. The idea is to intentionally make the other drivers; who aren’t expecting this to happen, think they may have the fastest cars so they make fewer adjustments to their cars...to make them even faster...and they show everyone else what they have during the race. Once the race is close to the finish, the driver who has been ‘sandbagging’ knows what adjustments the other race teams have made,...

And that's Zogby, with the 39-35 (D/R) rating! Kerry is tapped out, folks.

When I watched the first Presidential Debate, it was very obvious to me that President Bush had easily bested Senator Kerry. I didn't think Kerry performed poorly, in fact I said that I felt he had done the best he possibly could have under the circumstances that his previous statements on the issue of Iraq had created for him. As for the President, I thought he was unspectacular, but strong and made most of the points he needed to make, while being just hard enough on Kerry to make it clear that his opponent has no business being Commander in...

Some are reporting in other threads that Kerry removed an earpiece after the debate, anyone out there that taped the debate please review and post. Also, some have suggested that it appears that the movement of Kerry with the object he removed may have been a text imaging device. Lets look for this too.

October 4, 2004 -- Was John Kerry trying to pull something at the debate last week? That question was burning up the Internet yesterday after a slo-mo review of the footage showed the Massachusetts senator taking an object out of his right pocket before the first question. Was it a cheat sheet — as some conservative bloggers claimed — or was it something innocuous? Either way, it would violate the debate rules agreed to by both campaigns: "No props, notes . . . or other tangible things may be brought into the debate." Many blogs offered links to the "Pocket-gate"...

Transcript, first Presidential debate 9/30/04, Miami Florida. Moderator: Senator Kerry, as you know, some have accused President Bush of alienating friendly Muslim nations in his war on terrorism. As President, how will you go about repairing relationships with friendly Muslim nations? John Kerry: Well, first, let me say this. President Bush has waged a war of unmitigated destruction upon the Muslim nations of Iraq and Afghanistan. He has refused to differentiate between Muslim fundamentalist and Muslim terrorists, thereby making enemies out of potential terrorists before they actually become terrorists. Moreover, he has indiscriminately bombed hot-bed Iraqi cities—such as Falluja and...

I have to say the President Bush had the chance to finish off Kerry once and for all and the opportunity passed him by. Dick Morris is right in saying that the next debate will be tougher because Kerry fares better on domestic issues. Hopefully Bush can pull off a Ronald Reagan from '84 and strike back in the next debate. But Mr. President, what happened? All his aides were saying that the President was ready and anxious to debate. I didn't see him anxious. I didn't see the Bush I saw in 2000 with Al Gore.

From the internals in the Gallop polls. Kerry/Bush. Demonstrated he is tough enough for the job 37%/54% " Kerry was been working assiduously for the past year to convince the US that he is a girly man in stretch pants with coffed hair, pumpkin skin, manicured nails. He succeeded. Toughness 37%.

I don't care what the media says. Bush won the debate on substance. If you look at what the candidates have been saying since Friday, Bush has a whole new set of Kerry fodder to take aim at. For instance the "global test", "wrong war, wrong place, wrong time", and Bush made a mistake going to Iraq, but our troops aren't dying for a mistake. What new ammo does Kerry have? Bush gave him nothing to attack. People in the media keep saying that neither candidate made a verbal gaffe, but the Global Test remark is going to turn out...

There was one line in the debate that just stuck in my mind that I have not seen mentioned anywhere that I know of. This one line, in my mind, summed up the dismal showing of President Bush. During one of the many Kerry statements in which he basically calls the President a liar, President Bush came back with this gem to Jim Lehrer: "I don't take it personally".Excuse me? You don't take it personally President Bush? Well I do!! This is no ordinary election President Bush. This war on terror is a defining moment in our history. This is...

Some questions asked on the Zogby poll: Do you agree or disagree that your vote actually is counted accurately? Did you watch the presidential debate Thursday night? Which of the two candidates do you agree more with on issues? Did the first presidential debate affect the way you plan to vote in the election? I had planned to vote for Kerry and still do I had planned to vote for Kerry but no longer will I had planned to vote for Bush and still do I had planned to vote for Bush but no longer will I had been leaning...

There are all kinds of conspiracy theories going around about whether or not Kerry had the questions ahead of time. Maybe so, or maybe not. However, what do you think of this excerpt from the debate transcript...Kerry's answer to the first question: "...I know I can do a better job in Iraq...All of these, and especially homeland security, WHICH WE'LL TALK ABOUT A BIT LATER." Did he know a question about homeland security was coming up?