This photo was spread on liberal blogs and became the subject of furious speculation about Bush having been fed answers by his team through an earpiece (even though no such earpiece was ever visible on video or in photos from the debate).

According to a report in The Hill, "sources in the Secret Service" said the president was wearing a bulletproof vest for security, which the Bush campaign denied.

"There was nothing under his suit jacket," Nicolle Devenish, a campaign spokesperson, told the New York Times. "It was most likely a rumpling of that portion of his suit jacket, or a wrinkle in the fabric."