Domestic issues move to center stage

Bush responded by saying directly into the camera: "Let me talk to the workers," and explaining, "you've got more money in your pocket as a result of the tax relief we passed and [Kerry] opposed."

Healthcare was a recurrent topic: Kerry repeatedly stressed the growing number of Americans without coverage, even turning a question about the flu vaccine back to the issue of the uninsured.

Bush responded by attacking Kerry's proposal to offer Americans the same coverage as members of Congress as unaffordable: "If every family in America signed up, like the senator suggested, if would cost us $5 trillion over 10 years."

Some of the most interesting points of the debate came on topics of morality. With gay marriage an issue in the campaign, moderator Bob Schieffer asked the candidates whether they believed homosexuality was a matter of choice.

Bush replied "I don't know," adding that he believed in the importance of tolerance - but opposes gay marriage. Kerry responded by saying "if you were to talk to Dick Cheney's daughter, who is a lesbian, she would tell you that she's being ... who she was born as," adding "It's not a choice." Kerry believes in civil unions and equal rights for gay and lesbian couples - though does not support gay marriage. Some Republicans later criticized his comments about the vice president's daughter as overly personal.

Both candidates' most eloquent moments may have come when asked about how religion informs policy decisions. Bush responded in simple language about how he prays. "I pray a lot," he said. "I pray for strength. I pray for wisdom. I pray for our troops in harm's way. I pray for my family." But he also edged into territory that might make some voters uncomfortable - linking his religion explicitly to his foreign policy, saying he believes God wants everyone to be free.

Kerry responded to a question about Catholic archbishops telling church members not to vote for him because of his position on abortion by saying: "I grew up a Catholic. I was an altar boy. I know that throughout my life this has made a difference to me." But, he added, "everything you do in public life has to be guided by your faith, affected by your faith, but without transferring it in any official way to other people."

Both candidates may have had their most humanizing moments at the end, when they were asked to reflect on what it's like being surrounded by strong women. Bush, who often talks on the stump about the influence Laura has had on him, expanded on that line with an anecdote about how he met her and it was "love at first sight." He also joked that she told him "to stand up straight and not scowl."

Kerry, whose wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry, is known primarily to many voters for her vast fortune, joked about how all three men married up, adding: "some would say me more than others." Referring to his wife and daughters, he added, "I can sometimes take myself too seriously, and they surely don't let me do that."

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