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On Oct. 3, Vice-President Al Gore and Texas Governor George W. Bush will stand behind podiums at the University of Massachusetts at Boston for the first of three Presidential (and one Vice-Presidential) debates. For weeks, both campaigns have been playing the lower-the-expectations game. Bush backers declare that Gore is the finest debater since Lincoln and Douglas, while Democrats note that Bush is a genial gentleman who has bested political heavyweights such as then-Texas Governor Ann Richards and Arizona Senator John McCain in past debates.
All spin aside, the debates will be pivotal in the 2000 Presidential election. The polls remain close, and one incident during the nationally televised sessions could change the complexion of the entire campaign. Debates have altered history before. Here are 10 such Television Age moments, in chronological order:
No Sweat (1960) The first Presidential debates on TV may have been the most important. The medium was still relatively new, and the campaign between Democrat John F. Kennedy and Republican Richard M. Nixon was extremely close. On the tube, Kennedy looked cool and collected. Nixon, suffering from the flu, was sweating noticeably. Radio listeners said Nixon was the winner. But TV viewers overwhelmingly backed Jack.
The 16-Year Gap After his experience in 1960, Nixon made certain he wasn't ever going to debate again. So in 1968 and 1972, he opted out. In 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson was breezing to victory over Arizona Senator Barry Goldwater, so he decided not to take a chance by debating his articulate Republican foe. The result was that voters didn't see a Presidential debate again until Democrat Jimmy Carter squared off against President Gerald Ford in 1976.
A Moment of Silence (1976) Debates returned in the Bicentennial Year, but just barely. In the first encounter, just blocks from the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia, the sound system went ka-blooey. President Gerald Ford and Democratic challenger Jimmy Carter stood stiffly for nearly half an hour while the technicians tried to repair things.
The Liberation of Poland (1976) Ford was better off without sound. When the debating got going in earnest, he committed perhaps the biggest gaffe of a Presidential debate: He declared that Poland was free from Soviet influence. The misstatement haunted Ford in key swing states of the industrial heartland, where many Polish-Americans live.
The Nasty Boy (1976) Ford had dumped liberal Republican icon Nelson Rockefeller from the ticket, replacing the incumbent Vice-President with Kansas Senator Bob Dole, a popular conservative lawmaker. But Dole performed poorly in a debate with fellow Senator Walter F. Mondale of Minnesota, a leading Democratic liberal. Dole's biggest mistake: complaining about "Democrat Wars" throughout the 20th century. Many Americans didn't blame FDR for World War II. They instead blamed Adolf Hitler. In a very close '76 contest, the Veep debate may have helped to wrap up the Carter victory.
Planet Hollywood (1980) The place: New Hampshire. The actor: Ronald Reagan. Republican rival George H.W. Bush was insisting that he alone should debate front-runner Reagan. The ex-California governor wanted to include a bunch of also-rans, so as to dilute Bush's support. When Bush balked, Reagan borrowed a line from an old political movie. He bellowed, "I paid for this microphone." It worked. Bush was toast. Reagan went on to win the GOP nomination.
The Crushed Peanut Farmer (1980) In the general election, the incumbent Democrat, Jimmy Carter, thought he could use the debates to show that Reagan was an intellectual lightweight and a dangerous right-winger. Instead, the debates showed that Reagan was a stronger leader and a nimbler speaker. Two moments stand out: Reagan's famous question ("Are you better off now than you were four years ago?") and his famous retort to Carter's accusations ("There you go again.") Two-thirds of Americans told ABC News that Reagan won the final debate. A close election turned into a landslide.
Young At Heart (1984) In the first debate of the 1984 general election, President Reagan gave one of his poorest performances on the public stage, stumbling over facts and rambling at times. Although Reagan's handlers blamed the lapses on "too much" debate preparation, many voters told pollsters that they were worried that the oldest President in American history (73 at the time) was not up to the job.
Reagan's Democratic foe, former Vice-President Mondale, was hoping to use their second and final debate to erase Reagan's huge lead. It was perhaps the best Presidential debate of the modern era: two articulate and folksy spokesmen for diametrically opposed political philosophies. But one line stood out -- and may have wrapped up the election for Reagan. Asked about the "age problem," Reagan responded that he wouldn't hold Mondale's "youth and inexperience" against him. Caught off guard, the Democrat laughed out loud, but his advisers weren't amused by Reagan's rhetorical skill.
Quayle Hunting (1988) On the campaign trail, Indiana Senator Dan Quayle had taken to comparing himself to former President John F. Kennedy. Well, they were both young and good-looking when they first sought national office. Quayle, who many voters considered a political amateur, meant that Kennedy had less experience in public life than the '88 GOP VP nominee when he ran for President in 1960.
Quayle's Democratic rival, Texas Senator Lloyd Bentsen, fully expected Quayle to mention Kennedy in their Omaha debate -- and he was fully prepared. When Quayle gave him an opening, Bentsen, who served in the House of Representatives with a young JFK in the late 1940s, declared that he knew Kennedy, "Jack Kennedy was a friend of mine. And, Senator, you're no Jack Kennedy." Quayle was left sputtering. Even though the Republicans won the election, Danny Boy's reputation never recovered.
Watch Out! (1992) President George Bush never liked debates, and his worst moment came in a town-hall style encounter in Richmond, Va. Sitting on stools, Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton, Texas businessman Ross Perot, and Bush engaged in a spirited encounter, with Bush getting pummeled by both of his opponents. After the debate passed its midpoint, the President glanced down at his watch, checking to see how much longer he had to endure the verbal assault.
The moment was caught by TV cameras and was seared into the consciousness of many voters. Unfortunately for Bush, the image fit perfectly into the theme of Democratic Vice-Presidential nominee Al Gore's campaign: "It's time for them to go." Indeed it was -- or so the voters decided several weeks later.
Will the record-breaking four general election debates in 2000 create any memorable moments for the history books? Tune in from Oct. 3 to 17. You'll have plenty of company: Whether it turns out to be good theater, good history, or simply boring public-affairs broadcasting, more than two-thirds of Americans say they'll be watching.
By Richard S. Dunham in Washington Edited by Douglas Harbrecht
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Copyright 2000, Bloomberg L.P.
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