Two different ways of looking at the debate tonight: Town hall fora are very tough for Republicans, because many interlocutors' questions have a "What is the government going to do for me?" component that tend to favor big government Democrats. On the other hand, town hall debates may bring out Senator Kerry's condescension, while highlighting President Bush's "regular guy" qualities. And even though it may not thrill small government conservatives, the fact is that President Bush's "compassionate conservative" governance may have better positioned him pretty well to tell people what the government has done for them. In regular times, this might well be disheartening. . . but considering the stakes in this election, I'm just grateful for any edge President Bush has.