The first debate of the US presidential election left most pundits in no doubt that John Kerry had won. Conor O'Clery was in Coral Gables.
"No applause, no hissing, no booing, no crying, no laughing, or I will stop the debate." This was the warning to the audience of Miami University students in Coral Gables before the first presidential debate on Thursday evening.
The students obeyed, and there wasn't a sound for 90 minutes until the applause at the end. Then they had their moment.
The candidates were joined briefly on stage by their wives, and when the First Couple exited, John Kerry and Teresa Heinz Kerry were on the stage by themselves.
Suddenly the clapping turned to cheering as the Kerry fans let loose. They were in little doubt that their man had won. The pundits on the networks had largely the same opinion.
"A very clear win on points for John Kerry," said one of his toughest critics, Joe Scarborough on MSNBC. People hired by ABC scored it at 45-36 for Kerry. A CBS panel also gave Kerry the thumbs-up.
Final judgment can take a few days, of course. Jimmy Carter was judged the victor in his 1980 debate against Reagan, until it became clear he had won by just coming across as a nice guy. Gerald Ford lost a 1976 debate for his fumble about Poland not being under Soviet domination - the papers had buried this in their first reports.
Kerry didn't give any obvious hostages to fortune in this raw, personal exchange. The President added to his collection of "Bushisms" when he described terrorists as a "group of folks" with hatred in their hearts who fought "vociferously". These misstatements added to a perception that he was nervous and ill-at-ease. He seemed disconcerted by the silence that greeted statements which got supporters cheering and clapping on the campaign trail. Once or twice the camera caught him grinding his teeth in annoyance as Kerry spoke.
Bush kept coming back to his basic points: he knew where he stood, he knew how to lead, and that was the best way to keep the peace.
They would not achieve anything by "sending mixed signals" such as Kerry did by saying it was "the wrong war at the wrong time in the wrong place". And it was hard work fighting terrorism, he said several times.
He hit back at Kerry for advocating direct talks with North Korea. "I can't tell you how big a mistake that is." However, he failed to score a knock-out blow.
Kerry curbed his tendency to be long-winded and to go off the subject, helped by the strict two-minute rule for answers. He argued that Bush should have gone after Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan rather than focusing on Saddam Hussein who was being continually weakened by no-fly restrictions, sanctions and UN inspections.
The war in Iraq had been a colossal mistake. Kerry later contradicted himself when he said Saddam Hussein "was a threat", to make the point that "there was a right way and a wrong way to disarm him".
Kerry was quick to respond to criticism. When the President quoted him as saying he would pull troops out of Iraq within six months, Kerry responded that what he had said was that he would aim to start to draw down troops in six months only if elections worked.
When Bush said he had gone to war because "the enemy attacked" on 9/11, Kerry jumped in to say the enemy was not Saddam Hussein but Osama bin Laden. Bush said he believed in his "heart of hearts" that he was right in what he did and "I will not change my core values" to suit the politics of the moment.
"It's one thing to be certain," responded Kerry. "But you can be certain and you can be wrong."
Bush was gracious when asked if Kerry had the character to be commander-in-chief: "Boy, that's a loaded question."
He said he admired the fact that Kerry had served his country and served 20 years in the Senate "and he's been a great dad". He would not hold it against him that he went to Yale (Bush's old university), but his concern was that he changed his position so often.
Kerry thanked him for his comments, praised Laura Bush as a great First Lady and noted that their daughters had had a tough time. "I'm trying to put a noose on them," said Bush.
In their summing up the President struck a biblical note: "We've climbed the mighty mountain, and I see the valley below and it's the valley of peace."
Kerry repeated his convention line: "I've defended this country in time of war and will defend it in time of peace."
After the debate the two couples moved towards each other and Mrs Bush and Mrs Kerry briefly gripped elbows in an embrace.