While no federal leader seemed to soar above the fray to win a unanimous victory in Monday's night's English language debate, no one fell grossly behind, either. And according to some experts and voters, that meant allegiances were simply solidified, rather than swayed.

Stephen Harper appeared to casually coast on the wave of Tory momentum.

Paul Martin went on the attack in efforts to turn the tide for the Liberals, and trained his biggest attacks on the Conservative Leader.

The NDP's Jack Layton touted himself as the third option to keep from being squeezed between the two main parties.

As for Bloc Leader Gilles Duceppe, he was the most natural and charismatic, according to some experts.

CTV gauged the reaction Monday night of a group of young voters in Kitchener-Waterloo -- part of a key swing region of southwestern Ontario that often acts as a political barometer to the outcome of an election. Ridings in this region have been on the winning side since 1965.

Simone Stawicki, a Wilfrid Laurier University student, had been seriously considering Harper and the Conservatives after being upset with news of Liberal scandals.

After watching the debate, her decision was cemented. "For me you've got to turn a page, you've got to see someone else in there," she told CTV News.

Another student told CTV that Martin fell short in his attempts to outshine his rivals and improve his party's standing in the polls. "I think he looks a little stressed. I think he knows he's the target of this campaign and he knows that he's behind."

But according to Wilfrid Laurier University political analyst Dave Docherty, a leader's performance at these debates won't alter any allegiances.

"I think people going into this debate looking for Mr. Harper to look prime ministerial come away thinking he does look a prime minister. People going in saying they want to see fight from Mr. Martin are seeing fight from Mr. Martin. So I'd be surprised to see a lot of swing after this debate," Docherty told CTV.

Other voters, meanwhile, expressed disappointment with the leaders for failing to deliver the goods on policy they had hoped to see.

Chris Buckle from Corner Brook, N.L., said he wanted to hear more about opposition party platforms rather than the "same attacks against the Liberals' misbehaviour.''

"The opposition parties, especially Harper, are making good points," said Buckle, who was among a panel of voters assembled by The Canadian Press to comment on the debate.

"But it is easy to look good when there has been so much corruption involving the Liberals,'' he added.

Verbal sparring

Carol Anne Northcott, a 53-year-old Winnipeg high school vice-principal, said she was disappointed by the candidates who generally stuck to prepared scripts.

"When given an opportunity to rebut against a speaker on a given topic, the person takes time to give political campaign speech like what is heard daily in the media,'' she said.

For some voters, however, the relatively freer format of the debate allowed for some more interesting verbal sparring, compared to the December debates in Vancouver.

"The heated discussion between all four party leaders has, for the first time during this campaign, given Canadians an unbiased opportunity to see the 'person behind the policies','' said Miles Morgan, 25, a University of Manitoba public administration student.

"I felt Mr. Harper appeared relaxed, and even seemed to be really enjoying himself. Mr. Layton's presence wasn't as strong as last debate,'' Morgan told CP.

Martin as 'Captain Canada'

Twenty-two-year-old Pam Hrick said Martin appeared to stutter while responding to "tough" questions, and when he said he would like to prevent international companies from bringing their business into Canada and would rather have Canadian businesses go international, it probably made many in the Liberal war room cringe.

But others thought Martin was effective in taking on all comers on the national unity front.

Bruce Anderson of Decima Research said Martin reminded people that he's "passionate about the country, the future, and the issues he wants to tackle.''

University of Calgary political scientist David Taras said Martin "always does well playing Captain Canada," and that Harper, in comparison, sounded "programmed" on the issue of national unity.

Duceppe most 'natural'

Hrick, a political science student from Ottawa, said Bloc Quebecois Leader Gilles Duceppe looked the best Monday night. She said he answered questions directly rather than avoiding or deflecting them.

Speech expert Bonnie Gross agreed. With studies showing 90 per cent of communication is non-verbal -- placing importance on one's tone of voice, gestures, and ability to make eye contact -- Gross said Duceppe was clearly the winner of the non-verbal debate.

"He's natural. He's open. You feel that he really cares about the issues," Gross said Tuesday on Canada AM, "as opposed to (giving the impression) he's memorized answers."

She continued: "He uses what I call variety of tone. Even though he has an accent, I still hear that from him. So he speaks like he's having a conversation with me as a Canadian."

Gross said the other party leaders were comparatively inconsistent -- although mixed in with their moments of weakness were moments of greatness. She said, at the end of the night, Martin scored big on the question of national unity.

"He dropped all his arguments, (took an) active tone and came alive. I really felt he really cared about Canada in his heart. I think he conveyed that through his speaking style and he was the only one who really did."

Don Desserud, a political scientist at the University of New Brunswick, also gave the debate to Martin, "but not by much -- Harper certainly didn't screw up.

"Mostly Harper was flat, uninspired and uninspiring," he told CP.

"However, it's his game right now so that might be all he had to do."

With a report from CTV's Lisa LaFlamme and files from The Canadian Press