] After a deluge of campaign speeches and hostile
] television ads, President Bush and challenger John Kerry
] got their chance to face each other directly Thursday
] night before an audience of tens of millions of voters in
] a high-stakes debate about terrorism, the Iraq war and
] the bloody aftermath.
]
]
] The 90-minute encounter was particularly crucial for
] Kerry, trailing slightly in the polls and struggling for
] momentum less than five weeks before the election. The
] Democratic candidate faced the challenge of presenting
] himself as a credible commander in chief after a torrent
] of Republican criticism that he was prone to changing his
] positions.

[ Bold mine. What the FUCK is with the tense in this article? I mean, I understand deadlines, but what the fuck? They wrote the whole article before a word is even spoken? Ass clowns. -k]