Well, not really. But reading and watching the post-debate analysis would lead one to believe it was. Last night's debate between Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and John Edwards was lively, sometimes contentious, and funny in a couple places. Certainly not dull. Each of the three candidates landed blows, but there was no knockout punch, and each scored on individual points. As interesting as the debate was, it's important, too, to critique not just the contenders' appearance at these things, but the facts behind what was said. Some good post-debate fact checking can be found at LiberalValues, where Ron Chusid analyzes four of the main topics and adds some video.

One question, posed to Barack Obama, is one we've heard before. "Was Bill Clinton our first black president?" I thought it a bit bizarre for a debate.

"I would have to investigate more of Bill's dancing ability and some of this other stuff before I accurately judged whether he was, in fact, a brother," Obama answered to laughter from the crowd.

Sen. Obama stayed on point throughout the debate, and according to current results of a CNN poll and Time's Mark Halperin, won the contest by a very thin margin. The two did get some of the issues that have been bubbling up these past weeks out on the table, so that was good. And although Edwards was left outside the main event, possibly because of it, he did quite well on the issues and was given the win in other polls.

Here are CNN's online poll results as of this morning and a couple highlights from the exchange between Clinton and Obama.

I have to say I feel pretty good about our chances in November if Sen. Obama is the nominee. He proved himself able to stand up to the attacks of the last couple weeks and to hit back when necessary without losing his positive message of change. If, as Sen. Edwards believes, we face McCain, Obama appears to be the most able to bring in some Independent and Republican votes and the one who distinguishes himself most from the rest of the field.

A good debate, and certainly water-cooler material on a typical day, but I'm doubtful it will stay that way. When the opening bell rings today, that's when the conversation will change.