From WNYC in New York, this is NPR's On the Media.

I'm Bob Garfield.

And I'm Brooke Gladstone.

Do we have a winner?

Everybody's saying, oh, you got to wait till tomorrow to figure out who won this debate.

Well, I'm going to say it tonight.

John Kerry won the debate.

That's Republican congressman-turned MSNBC talk show host Joe Scarborough, cutting through the crap,

right after Thursday's ultimate example of must-see TV.

In the auditorium of the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida, moderator PBS's Jim Lehrer laid down the rules. A green light will come on when 30 seconds remain in any given answer.

Yellow at 15, red at five seconds, and then flashing red means times up.

There is also a backup buzzer system if needed.

All week long, the two war rooms were hard at work, lowering expectations for their

respective candidates, sending mixed messages praising the cunning while disparaging the competence

of their opponent. Meanwhile, the media were sending mixed messages of their own, working

themselves into a lather over the cataclysmic importance of the debate,

while huffing and puffing over the terms of engagement negotiated by the candidates

that were certain to strangle the proceedings.

But the TV pundits went further than that,

not just lowering expectations for the debate,

but for their own performances commentators, because, well, they're only human.

CNN's Tucker Carlson.

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