Well, it wasn't that exciting. In fact at times it was damned tedious. There was no huge gaffe, no devastating oneliners. No real funnies. Brown kept trying to agree with Nick Clegg to forge an alliance against David Cameron. By the end it was laughable.

But overall, I think Nick Clegg won the day, if only by a short head. He put in a very confident performance and I can't think of an error that he made. Whenever I watch these debates I try to do it at least in part through the eyes of normal voters. And I have to be honest, I think they would have been impressed by Clegg. What he said may have been utter bollocks at times - and it was - but it was the way he said it. He also dictated the terms of the debate at times. As Vince Cable just said on the BBC, the constant repeating of "We agree with Nick" justifies that assertion.

However, I thought David Cameron put in a very strong performance. He won many of the rounds by his force of argument and his closing statement was by far and away the strongest. I felt he could have been a little more aggressive at times but he clearly decided he didn't want to get into barneys with the other two. I thought he dealt well with Brown's attacks, but was a little unsure about how much to go for Nick Clegg and expose the shallowness of his arguments.

Gordon Brown did roughly what I thought he would do - come out with his well rehearsed lines, spend most of his time creating dividing lines, and attacking the Conservatives. He was full of negativity and radiated very little optimism. His off camera smirks and head shakes showed him to be petulent and a little bit nasty.

But the thing that won it for Nick Clegg was the way he interacted with the viewer - not the audience, the viewer. He spent most of his time looking directly into the camera. He also did well to address the questioner directly, as did David Cameron. He also smiled more than the other two and you can get away with a lot on TV just by dint of a smile. David Cameron needed to smile more. Gordon Brown just shouldn't ever smile because it always looks false.

So, to the scores on the doors. Content wise, I thought Cameron won, but then I would, wouldn't I, but I'm not scoring it on that. I score it on how they came across to the ordinary punter at home. So I score it...
 

Clegg 8
Cameron 7.5
Brown 5.5
 

My final point is that these instant polls are ridiculous. The Sky poll gives it to Cameron by a mile while the ITV one puts him third on 14%! They can't both be right. We should ignore all polls now until Sunday or Monday.