The Massachusetts senator steadied a wobbly campaign by battling President Bush to at least a draw in their first debate at the University of Miami. Some say Kerry won by staying on the stage and appearing reasonable, calm, well versed on policy and undaunted by Bush's presidential aura.

WHO WON

Here are some of the methods that were used to assess the presidential debate and the scores or evaluations reached. --- INSTANT POLLS WHAT IT IS: Polls of hundreds of voters of all political persuasions by ABC, CBS and CNN. Statistically significant representation of which candidate people think won. A snapshot opinion that can change with time. WHO WON: Kerry big in all three polls. --- FOCUS GROUP DIAL SURVEYS WHAT IT IS: Surveys of small, usually undecided groups of people who have dials they turn constantly to register their positive and negative opinions of the candidates. WHO WON: Kerry 16-2 in Republican pollster Frank Luntz's focus group. --- SCHOLASTIC DEBATE RULES WHAT IT IS: School debate judges chart each candidate's arguments and rebuttals to see which candidate supported, proved and refuted his arguments better. WHO WON: Kerry 24, Bush 20, from debate judge Brother Rene Sterner of LaSalle College High School in Wyndmoor, Pa. --- FACIAL EXPRESSION WHAT IT IS: Judging candidates' emotions and likability by examining 43 different facial expressions. WHO WON: Kerry won, but mostly Bush lost big, from Sensory Logic Inc. --- BODY LANGUAGE WHAT IT IS: Judging by face and body movements. WHO WON: Kerry, because Bush's grimaces, smirks, tongue-thrusts and repetition made him look childish, according to consultant Patti Wood. --- LANGUAGE USAGE: WHAT IT IS: Judging the grade level of the candidate's arguments by using standard tests of words and sentences. WHO WON: Kerry. He spoke at a 7.3 grade level, Bush at 6.8, according to www.yourDictionary.com. --- TOILET PAPER SALES WHAT IT IS: Online sales Friday of toilet paper with candidates' pictures on it. WHO WON: Bush toilet paper outsold Kerry toilet paper Friday about 3-1, meaning Kerry really won, according to www.Justtoiletpaper.com.

Bottom line: The critical focus of the election, which often has centered on doubts about Kerry's consistency and Bush's judgment, almost certainly will turn more toward the president in coming days.

"What it means now is we will probably see a little bit more of the focus go back on a referendum on the incumbent," said political analyst Norm Ornstein. "That is a situation where there is enough dissatisfaction that Bush has got a few headaches."

Kerry's debate performance capped a week in which the Massachusetts senator sharpened his criticism of the war in Iraq and began putting new emphasis on domestic issues like middle-class income and health care.

The dominant theme going into the debate, held in the crucial state of Florida, was that Bush could have put Kerry away with a dominant performance. That didn't happen, meaning the next debate in St. Louis on Friday could be even more pivotal for both men, in that it will include domestic issues that Kerry thinks are his strength. The perception that Kerry did well also could raise the stakes for the vice presidential debate Tuesday night in Cleveland between Vice President Dick Cheney and Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina.

Some Democrats think Kerry's debate performance gives him a stronger platform to talk about issues Democrats want to talk about. In coming days, Kerry adviser Mike McCurry said, the Democratic ticket will be "talking a lot about the economy and health care and education, and first and foremost, the economic squeeze that the middle class is facing."

Kerry still has not put to rest the flip-flop label, and how his position on Iraq differs from Bush or from positions that Kerry himself has taken in the past.

Republicans seized on conflicting language Kerry used in the debate, calling the war a "colossal error in judgment," but then refusing to say that the more than 1,000 American soldiers who have died there had died in a mistaken war.

"Nonsensical," said Bush spokesman Steve Schmidt.

Bush's advisers would settle for status quo over the final month of the campaign. They see nothing over the past week that has shaken the underlying perception that Bush is steadfast in troubling times while Kerry is still searching for political openings on war and peace.

"Both candidates solidified the views of them" in the first debate, said Bush senior adviser Matthew Dowd.

But Ornstein, an American Enterprise Institute scholar, said he believed that Kerry had crossed a crucial threshold on presidential plausibility. He compared Kerry to Ronald Reagan's 1980 challenge of Jimmy Carter.

"You have an incumbent (Bush) who has problems with the electorate, but who is winning or holding his own in trial heats because people are very uncomfortable with his challenger and have real questions about whether (Kerry) could actually be a president, and whether it is too big a risk to take," said Ornstein, who was in the debate hall. "Reagan got over that bar. In this case, I think Kerry got over the bar."

But McCurry, a veteran Democratic strategist who was on the other side of the challenger's fence with incumbent Bill Clinton in 1996, said Democrats are under no illusions of how tough the task ahead will be.

Asked if Kerry had totally closed the stature gap, McCurry said flatly, "No."

"I don't think you can accomplish everything in one debate," he said. "But I think you can make up a lot of ground, and I am sure we made up a lot of ground."