After squaring off in a town-hall-style debate last Friday,
incumbent President Bush and his Democratic opponent, Sen. John
Kerry, have returned to the campaign trail, both aggressively
criticizing the other’s performance.
After a debate in St. Louis in which there was no clear winner
yet both parties claimed victory, the two candidates returned to
campaigning with positions that mirror much of what was said during
Friday’s debate.
“The choice for America could really not have been more
clear than it was last night,” Kerry told supporters in Ohio
the day after the debate. “Four more years of the wrong
choices, or four years of beginning to move America in a direction
that creates jobs, creates health care, puts America’s
respect back where it ought to be.”
Kerry called Bush’s response to the last question of the
debate Friday night “the most stunning moment of the whole
evening.” The president was asked to name three specific
mistakes he had made and what he did to correct them but ended up
doing neither, Kerry said, “The president couldn’t even
name one mistake.”
In Waterloo, Iowa, Bush ridiculed Kerry’s assertion not to
have changed positions on the war in Iraq and contended that the
Democrat’s statements about Iraq, health care and taxes
“don’t pass the credibility test.”
“With a straight face, he said, “˜I have only had one
position on Iraq,'” the president said to hoots of
laughter from the crowd. “I could barely contain myself. He
must think we’ve been on another planet.”
Despite the post-debate attacks on each other, UCLA political
science professor John Zaller said both candidates performed well
during the debate.
“Each candidate did what he wanted to do without making
gaffs or giving the other side a big opening,” Zaller
said.
“Bush made up for his image problems in the first debate,
but that only gets him back to where he started,” said
Zaller. “Meanwhile, Kerry needed to prove to undecided voters
that he is a credible candidate, which he has now largely done.
This puts him ahead of where he started.”
An instant ABC News poll suggested the voters who tuned in for
the Friday night debate picked Kerry as the winner by a narrower
margin than the first debate. This time, the quick poll showed 44
percent of voters saying Kerry won, 41 percent favoring Bush, and
13 percent declaring a tie. The two men fared about equally in a
poll of debate viewers by CNN-USA Today-Gallup. Asked who did a
better job, 47 percent said Kerry and 45 percent said Bush.
“Bush went into the first debate with a big lead in the
polls and came out barely ahead. Bush performed on par with Kerry
in the second debate, but has not gotten his big lead back,”
Zaller said.
UCLA political science Associate Professor Michael Chwe agreed
with Zaller’s assessment. Chwe said though Friday’s
debate was not as lopsided as the first one and Bush seemed to be
more comfortable, “he didn’t make up the gravitas
deficit from the first debate.”
“It’s hard not to see Kerry as the serious, studious
older brother and Bush as the younger brother cut-up who carries
around a whoopee cushion,” Chwe said.
Bush senior adviser Karl Rove, in a rare on-the-record talk with
reporters traveling with Bush, defended Bush’s more combative
tactics in the second debate.
“It was just the right format … and allowed him to
clearly show the differences,” Rove said. “He was
eager. He saw the opportunity to set the record straight. He had
lots of fun.”
Kerry adviser Joe Lockhart cast the final weeks of the campaign
as a battle on Kerry’s part for the middle class and on
Bush’s for “a much narrower group, those who are at the
top end of the income scale.”
“I think John Kerry scored very well any time the subject
turned to jobs, the economy, health care and the
environment,” Lockhart told reporters in a conference
call.
Jobs, economy and health care were at the forefront of
Friday’s debate in which both candidates went on the
offensive, attacking each other’s credibility on the war as
well as on domestic issues such as taxes and prescription
drugs.
During the debate, Bush challenged Kerry’s consistency on
Iraq early in the debate, accusing him of initially supporting the
war, then changing his stance to further his political
position.
“I don’t see how you can lead this country in a time
of war, in a time of uncertainty, if you change your mind because
of politics,” Bush said.
Kerry continued to defend his record throughout the night and
made counter attacks on Bush, saying Bush did not have the support
and the forces he needed to go into war.
“The president didn’t find weapons of mass
destruction in Iraq, so he’s turned his campaign into a
weapon of mass deception,” Kerry said during the
debate. “And the result is you’ve been bombarded with
advertisements suggesting that I’ve changed my position on
this, that or the other thing.”
Kerry said though he did believe Saddam Hussein was a threat and
was prepared to authorize the use of force if necessary, he
“would have used that authority wisely, not rushed to war
without a plan to win the peace.”
At one point during the debate, Kerry said, “Well, let me
tell you straight up: I’ve never changed my mind about
Iraq.”
Bush denied that the war in Iraq was a mistake and justified the
war with America’s need for protection. He also emphasized
that much of al-Qaeda has already been brought to justice.
“After 9/11, we had to look at the world differently.
After 9/11, we had to recognize that when we saw a threat, we must
take it seriously before it comes to hurt us,” Bush said.
Bush also criticized Kerry’s opposition to the war and his
plan to bring in more allies for the United States.
“Nobody is going to follow somebody who doesn’t
believe we can succeed and with somebody who says that where we are
is a mistake,” Bush said.
The presidential candidates also sparred on the issue of taxes.
Kerry criticized Bush for giving tax cuts to the rich while
under-funding the No Child Left Behind Act, while Bush asserted
that tax increases ““ which could negatively affect small
businesses ““ would be inevitable if Kerry is elected.
In the days after the debate, both Kerry and Bush are on the
campaign trail in run-up to the last of the series of three debates
on Wednesday in Tempe, Ariz.
With reports from Bruin wire services.