Less than three weeks after it started, the 2004 Presidential and Vice-Presidential season is now over. While it seemed like everyone was talking about the first debate, expect the conversation about last night’s performance to be fairly restrained. Let’s face it—everything has already been said by both candidates, and anyone who expected fireworks probably fell asleep right after Bush mentioned “No Child Left Behind” for what seemed like the 248th time.

Most people were probably watching baseball, anyway. So for those of you who are elated about the Yankees or depressed about the Red Sox, read on.

The interesting story about last night’s event isn’t what was said—if you’ve watched the previous two debates or have read our coverage on them, you already should have an idea of the themes each candidate was pushing. The real story is what wasn’t said, starting with moderator Bob Schieffer. For a debate that was supposed to be about domestic issues, Schieffer failed to ask a single question about issues like the environment, energy and oil policies, stem cell research, trade, corporate corruption or crime. Instead, he chose to waste two out of the 20 scheduled questions on puffball topics about the candidates’ wives and religion. A third question about the flu vaccine shortage, while important, certainly wasn’t worthy of a Presidential debate—though the President did make it interesting by suggesting that we get new supplies of vaccine from Canada, directly contradicting his stand on prescription drugs.

Speaking of things not said, it was amazing how easily George Bush was able to simply ignore questions he didn’t like. When asked about his thoughts on an increase in the minimum wage, he decided to talk about No Child Left Behind, which he said was “really a jobs bill”. When asked if he would overturn Roe vs. Wade, all he said was that he wouldn’t require a “litmus test” for new judges, which means pretty much nothing. When asked why he didn’t push to renew the assault weapons ban, he pretty much threw up his hands and said that the Congress wouldn’t go along with it. Never mind that he’s the president, his party controls both halls of Congress, and he can easily throw around the weight to get what he wants. He also decided not to answer any questions about his administration’s responsibility for job losses. John Kerry was able to get away with one, as well; when asked about the shortage of flu vaccine, he went right into the generalized problems of healthcare. A decent moderator would have been able to tighten everything up, but Schieffer was uninterested in being assertive.

As in the past debates, Kerry seemed solid and composed, and Bush said a lot of things that sounded good but were completely inaccurate. As far as body language was concerned, Bush seemed to be more solid than either of the two previous debates. He wasn’t the scowling and foggy-headed bumbler of the first debate, nor was he the caffeine-overdose angry guy from the second debate. FOr the most part he was calm, though he couldn’t help but to add a derisive little laugh or smirk to almost every response. He didn’t really look Presidential. Instead, he looked like a stand-up comedian trying to give the audience cues on when to laugh. Kerry’s demeanor was consistent throughout all three debates and certainly proved that he can play the Presidential role.

If you really want a score, in my viewpoint it was pretty much tied. Kerry had better, more substantial answers and made a few good attacks, but he also missed several opportunities to really put Bush on his heels. Bush was misleading at times and a bit too smirky, but he was considerably more polished than in previous debates. He also delivered a far superior closing statement, which was filled with all sorts of Reagonesque metaphor and sentimentality. When taken at a whole, it was close. And boring. And it probably didn’t change the minds of most people.

Overall, it would be hard to argue that this series of debates benefited Kerry/Edwards more than Bush/Kerry. The Kerry campaign was able to gain some much-needed credibility by showing that their guy seemed ready and prepared to move into the White House. With only 18 days left in the election, and most polls now tied, we have some interesting times ahead.