candidate. Video stream RealPlayer video stream of the debate from the BBC website Video and stream of the debate from the Internet Archive Post-debate poll 62.5 million people tuned into the debates, an increase of just over 35 percent from 2000. Controversies Bush's suit bulge A bulge in the back of Bush's suit jacket during this debate triggered rumors that he was "wired" with a radio receiver, presumably to receive instructions from his strategists. Contributing to the rumors was the perception that, at one point, Bush stated "Let me finish" in response to no apparent interruption and when he still had time on the clock, and some long pauses by Bush before he began answering a question. Others dismissed these accusations, saying that the "Let me finish" was a response to a gesture that Lehrer made, and the pauses were a result of Bush gathering his thoughts before responding. The story gained momentum on the Internet throughout the remaining debates, with some websites devoted exclusively to the issue, often referred to as the "Bush bulge" or "Bush wired" story. Comedy talk show hosts had fun with "Bulgegate" jokes. White House officials initially claimed that the bulge was a "wrinkle in the fabric," and that Bush was not wearing a bullet-proof vest, as many conjectured. Bush's tailor later said that the bulge was nothing more than a pucker along the jacket's back seam, according to the Seattle Times. After the election, unidentified sources in the Secret Service told The Hill that Bush had been wearing a bullet-proof vest and that campaign handlers had not admitted it earlier for security reasons. Some reports suggested that the device was a portable defibrillator Bush supposedly began wearing after a fainting episode in January 2002 that was attributed to choking on a pretzel. A photo imaging scientist at NASA, Dr. Robert M. Nelson, applied photo enhancement techniques to images of Bush at each of the three debates. He concluded that Bush was "obviously wearing something—probably a receiver of some kind—under his jacket for each debate." Nelson sent his evidence to The New York Times, which prepared an investigative report on the matter, but it was killed by editors, one of whom later explained that the story did not make the cut because it was mere "speculation"; a reporter on the Times science desk disagreed. The story received some coverage, for example in Salon, Mother Jones