Peter Riddell in the Times sees conference like this:

THE Liberal Democrat leader can start to relax. Yesterday Sir Menzies Campbell both established his authority as leader and went a long way towards defining the identity of his party.
Imagine if the leadership had lost the vote on retaining the top 50p rate of income tax and Charles Kennedy had delivered a barnstorming speech prompting calls for his early return to the front bench. Sir Menzies’ authority would then have suffered a serious setback and there would be rumblings over his leadership before his big speech tomorrow.

But neither of these threats materialised. After a vigorous and amicable two-hour debate, probably better than anything we will hear over the next fortnight, the advocates of the 50p rate were beaten by well over two to one. This was a bigger-than-expected margin, and Sir Menzies looked relieved.

Then, three hours later, Mr Kennedy delivered a fluent, but over-long and self-indulgent speech. There was no apology for, or even admission of, his alcoholism.

Mr Kennedy still has remarkable political talents, but he does not yet look ready to return. He received the expected standing ovation, as a mark of genuine respect and thanks. But the conference was affectionate rather than enthusiastic, in marked contrast to the ecstatic reception that Margaret Thatcher was given by the Conservative Party conference in October 1991, the first after her downfall the previous November.

Compare and contrast with this report

David Cameron’s leadership of the Conservative Party suffered a setback after it emerged that membership has dropped by more than 6,000 since he took over.

A ballot on a new mission statement, called Built to Last, suggested that there were 247,394 party activists eligible to vote — 6,295 fewer than when Mr Cameron took over in December. He had claimed to have boosted membership.

Martin Kettle is tough on Kennedy in the Guardian:

if anyone was expecting a speech of unusual candour, or the posing of tough questions that the party should face, then they were disappointed. When Paddy Ashdown (who was also in Brighton today but in a non-speaking role) made his first speech as ex-leader in 1999, there were tough questions a-plenty. When Tony Blair finally quits the stage, we can be confident that his farewell address will not pull its punches either. But Kennedy is essentially a lazy politician. He preferred to caress the party than to challenge it. One wondered in the end what the point of it all was.

Most of Michael Brown's article on conference is behind the Independent fire wall. But it is a good read:

Yesterday's vote on the party's proposal to reduce the standard rate of tax by 2 per cent, increase thresholds and abolish the long-standing commitment to raise the top rate of tax to 50p on incomes in excess of £100,000 moves the party closer to providing an answer. The commitment to a higher rate of tax was largely totemic, but it was claimed by the new leadership to have hindered the electoral prospects at the 2005 general election. It is not so much the tax plans in themselves that will put a spring in the step of Sir Ming Campbell when he gives his leader's speech tomorrow but the fact that, at a stroke, the mutterings about his hitherto lacklustre performance will be stilled. Sir Ming's authority has been significantly strengthened and his credibility has received a much-needed boost.