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Debates heat up, stakes get higher |
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Mike Reily |
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If you haven’t decided who the next president ought to be, you
might want to spend Friday night with George W. Bush and John Kerry
listening to them answer questions from other fence-sitters. Millions will watch tonight’s debate at Washington University
in St. Louis, Mo., to see President Bush and Sen. Kerry battle for the
undecided sliver of the electorate in the race for the presidency. With
less than a month until Election Day and both a presidential and a vice
presidential debate in the can, the final two meetings between Bush
and Kerry will be closely watched. The wide range of issues that have
been at the forefront of the campaign are likely to surface again: the
economy, jobs, taxes, the war in Iraq, the war on terror, and social
issues such as same-sex marriage and abortion and possibly a few surprises. In contrast to the first debate in which only moderator Jim Lehrer
asked the candidates questions, tonight the questions will come from
the coveted swing voters. According to the Commission on Presidential
Debates, participants are undecided voters from the St. Louis area chosen
by the Gallup Organization. Without the restriction of podiums, the
town hall format moderated by Good Morning America’s Charles Gibson
should provide a more intimate forum for the candidates to connect and
interact with voters. Foreign policy was the topic of the first debate on Sep. 29, specifically
the Iraq War and the war on terrorism. Bush explained the hard work
that has been done in combating terrorism and highlighted the successes,
while Kerry argued that the war could be fought more effectively. The general consensus among debate viewers was that Kerry won. According
to the Gallup poll taken after the debate, Kerry bested Bush 53-37 percent
among registered voters; however, a new poll finds the overall race
tied 49-49. With neither candidate able to pull away from the other
in the race, expectations run high for both candidates in tonight’s
debate, especially Bush, who is expected to come back with a stronger
showing. Kerry’s stepson Andre Heinz told a group of student reporters
Wednesday in Portland, “I would suggest that President Bush and
his advisers understand all too well what happened at the last debate
and aren’t going to make the same mistake twice.” This week saw a report from the Iraq Survey Group’s chief weapons
inspector Charles Duelfer declaring that Iraq’s weapons program
was essentially destroyed in 1991 and Saddam Hussein did not have stockpiles
of WMD, undercutting one of Bush’s primary motives for going to
war, according to CNN. Bush also delivered a blistering attack at Kerry
that ranks among the most personal of the campaign. Both events will
certainly find their way into tonight’s spectacle. Tonight’s debate will begin at 6 p.m. and last 90 minutes. It will set the stage for the third and final presidential debate that will take place Wednesday, Oct. 13, at Arizona State University in Tempe and will focus on domestic issues. |