[slickpoppa]

First of all, you cannot justifiably make implications about the debating abilities of the politicians of an entire country based on a debate between two of them (especially when one of them is George Bush).
Second of all, Kerry is certainly no slouch when it comes to debating. I don't think that he became the top debater on the Yale debate team by accident. In my opinion, he performed very well at the first debate. Perhaps Kerry's debating potential was never fully displayed because Bush was not the most engaging of opponents.