LEWISTON – To a roomful of Bath Iron Works union workers, Thursday night’s presidential debate wasn’t even close. Sen. John Kerry carried the debate so decisively, he may have changed the course of history.

“I think he just won the election,” said Joe Flanders. “I have never seen such an overwhelming victory in a debate.”

The 48-year-old Mechanic Falls man was one of about 50 BIW union workers who watched the showdown on a big screen at the Ramada Inn.

Throughout the 90-minute debate, stretches of silence were punctuated by gasps and groans, snickers and cheers. When it was over, the celebrating began.

“John Kerry put on the best performance of any candidate I’ve ever seen,” said Flanders, who has watched every presidential debate since the mid-1970s. “George Bush just seemed to stammer and stutter through the whole thing.”

Flanders has a wife, a home and three children between the ages of 18 and 23. The economy is very important to him, but so is the prospect of a yearslong war. Flanders said he believes Kerry is the candidate who will best handle both issues.

The shipbuilders from the Bath plant gathered Thursday night to support Kerry and to hear the two candidates discuss the issues. The debate focused little on the economy, an issue important to BIW union members worried about jobs being lost to foreign competitors.

It didn’t matter. What the workers saw was a John Kerry they viewed as more confident and honest than his opponent at the other podium.

“Kerry was calm, composed and focused,” said 43-year-old Jim Alexander of Gardiner, who has worked at BIW for 18 years. “Bush seemed agitated and lost. I don’t think he had anything bright to say. It stunned me how unprepared he was.”

The shipbuilders worry that under the policies and practices of the current president, their security at the Bath shipyard might be in jeopardy. They worry that plants across the country may be sold and local jobs lost. Kerry, they said, is the one to prevent that.

“Bush does not support the unions,” said 40-year-old Steve Sherburne of Durham. “John Kerry does. He’ll fight for workers and for jobs.”

Thursday’s gathering was organized by R. Thomas Buffenbarger, president of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers. After the debate was over, and the volume on the television turned down, Buffenbarger was almost giddy.

“It was a great night for John Kerry,” he said. “John Kerry answered questions. George Bush avoided them.”

Buffenbarger advised the union members to go to work today and spread the word to other workers who may have missed the debate. Tell them how well Kerry did, he suggested, and how presidential he appeared.

“They’re not going to listen to the people in Washington,” Buffenbarger said. “They’re going to listen to you.”

Throughout the debate, union members sometimes jeered Bush. They snickered when the president scowled. They hissed when he snapped a response. For some, that dispelled the idea that Bush may be re-elected based on personality alone.

“He certainly did not come across as very likable tonight,” Flanders said. “George Bush put on the worst performance I’ve ever seen.”