IN THE THIRD AND FINAL DEBATE, JOHN KERRY SCORED WITH THE GROUP with which he most needed to connect: women. I watched the debates with 150 students at Washington College in Chestertown, Maryland — hosted by the College Republicans here.

FOR THOSE OF YOU IN THE WASHINGTON, D.C. AREA, feel free to join a couple of different meetings I will be attending tomorrow. At noon tomorrow (Wednesday), I will be speaking in a program with Anatol Lieven offering comments about his new book America Right or Wrong: An Anatomy of American Nationalism.

BUSH WAS ON THE SAME PAGE AS JOHN KERRY WHEN COMMENTING in October 2001 on the Israeli-Palestinian terrorism and arguing that he was not absent from the peace process. He said: . . .we are fully committed to working with both sides to bring the level of terror down to an acceptable level for both….

THERE IS ANOTHER SERIOUS INCURSION OF AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES working its way through the Congress in the name of 9/11 and the “War on Terror.” And John Ashcroft is behind this Orwellian statute.

ALTHOUGH THERE ARE SOME EUROPEAN BLOGS HERE AND THERE, I haven’t run across many. And it’s clear from my conversations with hundreds of people in France these last couple of days, very few Europeans know that blogs and blogging exist.

“WE CAN SAY WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION, NO WEAPONS OF MASS Destruction,” Coors said.

HERE’S A FACTOID FOR JOHN KERRY ON DOMESTIC SECURITY. The New York Port Authority is cutting down on cops and overtime for police at Kennedy Airport.

DAVID HALE IS ONE OF THOSE POLYGLOT ECONOMISTS WHO MESMERIZE, exhaust, inform, and entertain all at the same time. There are a few of those types out there, and I really enjoy spending time with David and the very few others out there like him. I always learn a lot. Hale was just in D.C….

I THOUGHT THAT WATCHING THE 2ND PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE IN FRANCE might make a difference in how I saw things as compared to being inside the beltway. I certainly had no access at all to the post-debate spin here at 4:30 a.m. Caen time.

THE SECOND PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE HAS MANY IN FRANCE ON EDGE. Chirac is on a state visit to China. There are still two French journalist kidnap victims being held by Iraqi insurgents.