Roger Porter said Dole succeeded at his task of convincing people he was presidential.

He said he was surprised that "neither candidate made a big mistake," a departure from previous years' contests.

University of Virginia government professor James W. Ceaser, who taught a graduate seminar at Harvard on the 1996 presidential race last spring, said he strongly believed Dole won the debate.

"I thought Dole won. He was at least the equal of the President," said Ceaser. "I think most people thought the President would get the better of Dole."

Ceaser praised Dole's treatment of the character issue.

"Dole raised the character issue without raising it," he said.

Paul Y. Watanabe, a professor of political science at the University of Massachusetts-Boston, had a very different view of the debate.

"It was a very strong night for Bill Clinton, but a weak performance for Bob Dole," Watanabe said. "Dole simply was not able to be effectively responsive, to engage the President, to rattle him at all."

Watanabe criticized Dole's lack of direction.

He said Dole was "building a bridge to nowhere," while "Clinton was very effective and right on the game plan."