Tie?

The official media line seems to be that the debate was a draw, which was pretty much my impression, too. But according to CBS, uncommitted voters - who are the important ones - thought Edwards had the better of the exchange, by a pretty handy margin.

Immediately after the debate, CBS News interviewed a nationally representative sample of 178 debate watchers assembled by Knowledge Networks who were "uncommitted voters" – voters who are either undecided about who to vote for or who have a preference but say they could still change their minds.

Forty-one percent of these uncommitted debate watchers said Edwards won the debate tonight. Twenty-eight percent said Cheney won. Thirty-one percent thought it was a tie.

WHO WON THE DEBATE?
(Uncommitted Voters Who Watched Debate)

Edwards
41%
Cheney
28%
Tie
31%