Those of you who tuned in to watch the first Kerry-Bush Debate last Thursday will be eager to see tonight’s vice presidential showdown in Cleveland, Ohio. Riding on top of Kerry’s post-debate bounce which closed the gap Bush was enjoying a week ago, Senator John Edwards will attempt to capitalize on that momentum when he debates Vice President Dick Cheney. One artist’s rendition of what the debate is likely to look like can be seen here.

Before looking at the debate to come, however, let us take a look at the the debate that was. Usually everybody walks away from a debate thinking that their guy won. Fortunately, that was not the case this time around. We don’t have to deal with a lot of Republicans in denial. The consensus is that Kerry was the clear winner. Kerry made a huge gain by showing people who have gotten all their information about his positions from Bush campaign commercials that he is strong, concise, and consistent. Of course, Bush still claims to not know what Kerry’s position is. And frankly, that alone I think should work against Bush. I don’t want a president who can’t even be bothered to take five minutes to log onto johnkerry.com and actually read his opponent’s position. Bush tried to use his usual strategy of giving the illusion of strength by repeating the same two or three talking points for 90 minutes. But in this instance it actually worked against him. I heard one reporter say that it was as though he had brought 30 minutes worth of material for a 90 minute debate. I think that had a lot to do with Kerry’s own prosecutor-style debating tactics. He was doing everything he could to force Bush off of his talking points (for instance, when he pointed out that it was bin Laden, not Saddam Hussein, who attacked America on 9/11). That’s not something Bush was happy about, and it showed. Many have already commented on Bush’s frustrated looks. And indeed, that was one of the biggest things that hurt him during the debate. Kerry stood tall and straight. He was calm and composed the entire time. In contrast, Bush could be seen slouching over his podium and hanging his head like a 5th grader in detention. He was visibly annoyed and irritated while Kerry was speaking. And there were a number of times when he just choked, spending several seconds stuttering or just staring blankly into the camera. Kerry simply looked more presidential.

Kerry did what he had to do. He showed himself to be a strong leader and more than capable of going head to head with George W. Bush. What I would like to see over the next two presidential debates is for Kerry to use those highly toned rhetorical skills of his to get under Bush’s skin even more and force him to slip up on his talking points.

But before that happens we have the Edwards-Cheney Debate. Some Democrats have expressed concern about this one. Cheney they say is a “pit bull” with decades more experience in government. I’m really not concerned about this debate, though. In fact, I will be shocked if Edwards doesn’t absolutely crush Cheney. For all of the talk about Cheney being a “pit bull,” his performance in the 2000 debate against Lieberman was positively dull. He looked like he was half dead. And the only reason he came off looking good is because he was sitting next to Lieberman, who looks even deader than Cheney and has an annoying voice to boot. Edwards is a whole different story. During the Democratic primaries, Edwards showed himself to be one of the greatest public speakers alive. And while he may be relatively new to Washington, he has made his living debating as a lawyer. The Bush-Cheney campaign is already worried, insisting that the two candidates “sit a few feet from each other across a desk” rather than stand at podiums. This is presumably to make it more difficult for Edwards to use a lot of gestures, which help him give off the energy he is known for. Still, the dichotomy between the two is simply too great to cover up with a desk.

Will the old man actually be able to keep up with Edwards? We’ll find out tonight.