Regarding the war and foreign policy, there is no segment of America that John Kerry did not appeal to.
Here are direct quotes from John Kerry in the debate.
On staying in Iraq:
"I'm not talking about leaving. I'm talking about winning."
"Yes, we have to be steadfast and resolved, and I am. And I will succeed for those troops, now that we're there. We have to succeed. We can't leave a failed Iraq."
On leaving Iraq:
"And our goal in my administration would be to get all of the troops out of there ..."
"I believe that when you know something's going wrong, you make it right. That's what I learned in Vietnam."
What was it that John Kerry "learned in Vietnam?" To leave a war he regarded as a mistake.
On America acting alone:
"I'll never give a veto to any country over our security."
On America acting only with world support or within an alliance:
"But if and when you do it (act alone), Jim, you have to do it in a way that passes the test, that passes the global test ..."
And what if acting alone does not pass "the global test"? Then presumably we won't act alone. Kerry made references to the need to be in Iraq in alliance with other nations eight times.
On the war being a mistake:
"This president has made, I regret to say, a colossal error of judgment."
"The president made a mistake in invading Iraq."
"The war is a mistake."
On the war being important enough to have to win:
"I believe that we have to win this. The president and I have always agreed on that."
After hearing Kerry call the war a mistake, the moderator Jim Lehrer asked the logical question: "Are Americans now dying in Iraq for a mistake?
John Kerry's answer: "No, and they don't have to, providing we have the leadership that I'm offering."
Now what does that response, arguably the most important thing the senator said in the debate, mean? Does it mean that American soldiers won't die for what John Kerry continually labels a mistake because he will prosecute the war more effectively? Or does it mean that Americans won't die for this mistaken war because he will leave Iraq and then there will be no mistake to die for?
The answer, again, is that it can mean either.
I believe that this debate can lead to only one conclusion: Either John Kerry is a man of few principles who will say almost anything on the most vital issues of life and death in order to get elected; or he is personally so confused on this issue that he will repeatedly make self-contradictory statements.
There is no other explanation for this unassailable fact: John Kerry won the debate because he sounded better; and he sounded better in large measure because he got away with saying whatever any voter wanted to hear.
That is one reason President Bush looked so annoyed at times. It is very hard for the principled to listen to the unprincipled.