Madmike, great post. This shows the power of a biased media. I, for one, did not fall asleep last night and was watching multiple channels, especially right after the debate. I was channel surfing to get a feel for the "spin" various channels would put onto the debate outcome and who "won". I focused on CBS with Dan Rather and MSNBC with Chris Matthews. I could only handle two stations so I bagged Fox and CNN as offsetting messages.
Here is what I saw. CBS was shamelessly biased. Rather, who I never watch, interviewed high powered Democrats like Diane Feinstein who is as liberal a politician as they come and blasted Cheney every way she could. The republican politician was some local Ohio politician (I believe an obscure congressman from a Cleveland area district) who was not particularly articulate and was led a series of questions that boxed him into dead-ends. As an aside, Rather is no match for any of the cable station leads like Matthews who had in depth discussions with mainline anchors like Brokaw and Russert, along with his panel. In any case, it is no surprise that a CBS poll shows Edwards winning though the margin is unbelieveable and unrealistic.
MSNBC had an instant poll they reported on minutes after the debate ended and though the numbers were closer, favoring Edwards, Chris Matthews said he was surprised because he felt Cheney was the clear winner. All of the panel members agreed. Brokaw and Russert appeared to give the win to Cheney.
So how does this happen? Internet polls are unreliable because they are prone to being loaded up. We do it right here with gun control. The Coalition of Ct. Sportsmen sends out emails daily on what is happening and what gun control poll to go vote on. Political parties do the same, go load the poll with your choice. I do not believe Internet polls.
My view? I look at debates from two different perspectives. Who is the better communicator and who has the better message. Kerry was the superior communicator, was articulate and had a flow to his delivery that was only matched by Bill Clinton on his best days. I like Bush's message though because the war on terror is my most important issue. Cheney had the better message since he had facts and information to back up his positions and had command of the debate. He looked more "vice presidential" whatever that is. I was disappointed in Edwards delivery at times. He should be even better than Kerry and didn't seem to have the command of the issues that someone who is a heart-beat away from being President should have. He simply doesn't have the command presence or experience to be that high an elected official whereas, like him or not, Cheney could be President and run the government.
What will be interesting now will be to see the results of a non-internet poll like the CNN/USA Today Gallup poll where they actually call up people and conduct an interview. I believe the numbers will tighten up in that type of poll with about an even split similar to the current presidential polls.
Just my opinion and observations.