[Mb-civic] Incredible Debate

[Michael Butler]

 Wednesday, October 06, 2004



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 Incredible Assertions

 The only vice presidential debate of the 2004 campaign lived up to its
hype. It was a contentious affair that saw both candidates draw on their
strengths -- for Vice President Cheney, gravitas and political experience,
for Sen. John Edwards, masterful trial lawyer skills -- to hammer home
points that they've been making for weeks on the campaign trail. In what has
come to be an accepted debate tactic, each candidate made arguments based on
differing interpretations of facts, and, in what has become all too
commonplace in the current political climate, the arguments at times went
beyond what the facts would support.

 In an effort to get at the truth behind the spin, a team of researchers,
editors and producers from The Washington Post and washingtonpost.com
attempted to hold the candidates accountable on their assertions in a
feature we call  The Debate Referee. See why the Ref threw flags on Cheney's
assertions about Saddam Hussein's links to the al Qaeda terrorist network
and Edwards's claims about the cost of the war in Iraq, to give two
examples.  Read More

 See Also:

 For the Record:  Misleading Assertions Cover Iraq War and Voting Records

 Dan Froomkin's White House Briefing:  When Cheney Met Edwards

 More Debate Coverage:

Cheney and Edwards Go Toe to Toe

Video of Full Debate
Transcript


 Instant Analysis 

In his analysis of the vice presidential debate, The Post's Dana Milbank
likened last night's event to courtroom drama: "The Democratic challenger,
reprising his former career as a trial lawyer, challenged Cheney
mercilessly, as if prosecuting a cagey and possibly untruthful defendant,
all the while charming the jury -- the viewing public -- with a winning
smile. The Republican incumbent, obviously disdainful of the prosecutor,
responded by questioning the prosecutor's credentials, as if lecturing a
dense student. 

 "The jury is still out, of course."  Read More

 "Who won?" asked The Post's Howard Kurtz in his online  Media Notes column
this morning. "Despite their differing styles, the answer was not
immediately obvious, at least not to me. Each had a job to do -- scoring
points on behalf of the presidential candidates and cleaning up their messes
-- and got it done."  Read More

 See Also:

 Tom Shales:  Cheney Turns On Heat, but Edwards Doesn't Quayle

 Post Associated Managing Editor Robert G. Kaiser, in a live discussion with
readers this morning,  wrote: "The Republican dream for last night was a
stomping that would reverse the impact of last week's presidential debate,
which has obviously revived Kerry's candidacy and again made this race very
close. That dream did not, in my view, come true.

 "... I'd say that both men performed a public service by demonstrating to
the millions who were watching that politicians running for the
second-highest office can be smart, serious and purposeful. Of course, both
also engaged in some of the demogoguery that is so entrenched in our
politics, but frankly, I was pleased that the amount of this seemed
limited."  Read the Transcript

 Last Week's Presidential Debate:

Video of Full Debate
Video Highlights 
Last Week's Debate Referee

Full Coverage of Debates


 Remaining Debates:

 Friday, Oct. 8, Washington U., St. Louis: Bush and Kerry Take Questions in
Town Hall Format

 Wednesday, Oct. 13, Arizona State U., Tempe: Bush and Kerry Debate Economic
and Domestic Policy


 Bush Responds 

 President Bush took yesterday off from the campaign trail, but resurfaced
this morning in Wilkes-Barre, Pa. The Post's William Branigin  reports that
the president delivered "his sharpest attack to date on his Democratic
challenger in the Nov. 2 election, charging that Sen. John F. Kerry has a
'20-year record of weakness' in the U.S. Senate and would 'paralyze America'
in the war against terrorism if elected. ...

 "Bush did not announce any new policies or initiatives in his speech, but
he offered a somewhat different rationale for last year's invasion of Iraq
than he has given in the past."  Read More

 See Also:

Bremer Criticizes Troop Levels

Report Discounts Iraqi Arms Threat
 -  Mike Snyder 
 Daily Tracking Poll
 If the 2004 presidential election were being held today, would you vote for
George W. Bush and Dick Cheney, the Republicans, John Kerry and John
Edwards, the Democrats, or Ralph Nader and Peter Camejo, the independents?
Which candidate are you leaning toward?
Methodology 
Full Results 
Results by Race, Gender and Sex




 ONLINE FEATURES



George W. Bush reached into each of the spheres surrounding his life to find
fundraisers for his first presidential bid.


See how President Bush and Sen. John F. Kerry compare on the major issues of
the campaign.
 OPINION




 Jane Eisner
No Kidding, This May Be the Year for a Youthful Turnout
 The youth vote is finding its voice again. The movement to engage young
people politically has learned from a decade of trial-and-error efforts. It
has capitalized on an unusually close and important presidential race to
become a force of unprecedented size and sophistication, led by a network of
experienced, committed advocates who have been able to attract big money and
media attention to their cause.  More

 Anne Applebaum 
Small Government Is So 1990s
 Back in the last decade, Newt Gingrich's rants against the Democratic
congressional establishment and its penchant for spending were perceived as
partisan Republican attacks. But nowadays, the Republicans themselves -- in
control of the House, the Senate and the White House -- bear the greatest
responsibility for the apparently unstoppable expansion of government.  More
 Mark J. Penn 
 Myth of the Vanishing Swing Vote
 For months, pundits and the press have been peddling an obviously misguided
theory of the American electorate: that all the voters have chosen one side
or the other and thus there are almost no swing voters left.  More




 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION



Kerry Urges Bush to Admit Mistakes
 Democratic presidential candidate John F. Kerry, seizing on criticism of
the Bush administration's Iraq policy by the former U.S. governor in
Baghdad, called on President Bush Tuesday to acknowledge major mistakes in
judgment and give Americans a full accounting of what has gone wrong in
Iraq. More


 Swing State: The Battle for Ohio
Boasts and Bluster in the Ground War
 Every poll that comes out in Ohio between now and Nov. 2 should include an
asterisk -- or perhaps even a question mark. On all sides, this year's field
operations are devoted to overturning the assumptions of pollsters -- about
who will vote, and how many -- in ways that could produce an Election Day
surprise.  More

Kerry's Va. Team Sent to More Contested States

A Film Festival That's Rated GOP
 Billed as the first conservative film festival in Hollywood, the Liberty
Film Festival showcased comic shorts, including "Greg Wolfe: Republican
Jew," an epic homage to Ronald Reagan and his battle against Soviet
communism ("In the Face of Evil") and a snappy doc on tart-tongued
commentator Ann Coulter ("Is It True What They Say About Ann?").  More


 OTHER ELECTIONS NEWS



Cost of Congressional Campaigns Skyrockets
 A decade ago, it cost on average about $500,000 to win a House seat,
according to the Campaign Finance Institute. Not anymore. Largely because of
the ever-increasing cost of television advertising, the average price tag
for waging a winning campaign is likely to zoom past the million-dollar mark
this year for the first time, analysts say.  More

Changes in Store for Senate Leaders
 Regardless of whether Republicans or Democrats win control of the Senate in
November, the chamber will face significant changes in some of its most
influential leadership and policy posts over the next two years.  More

In Indiana Race, Bush's Budget Blade Becomes 'My Man Mitch'
 President Bush admiringly called him "the Blade," for the gleam in his
budget-cutting eye. Now, 16 months later, the former White House budget
director is in a tight campaign for governor against the incumbent Democrat,
appealing to voters with a decidedly mellow motto: "My man Mitch," a Bush
coinage.  More

Turnabout in Okla. Senate Race
 Oklahoma's Senate candidates faced off on NBC's "Meet the Press" on Sunday,
with Rep. Brad Carson (D) repeatedly embracing GOP policies and President
Bush, and Republican Tom Coburn, a former House member, invoking John F.
Kennedy's name and suggesting as "evil" a $442 billion budget deficit
brought on by a GOP Congress and administration.  More


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