Presidential debates are rarely remembered for wise arguments or innovative policies. Media and voters tend to pick apart the candidate’s dress, manner of speech and any other body language. Was his face expression funny? Did he sweat too much? It’s the little stuff that counts. Some of the most noteworthy debate moments:
Oh, please
2000
Al Gore and George W. Bush:
Gore was lambasted for scowling and audibly sighing as Bush responded to a question.
Bored, are we?
1992
Bill Clinton and George H. W. Bush:
The camera caught the elder Bush checking his wristwatch while Clinton was speaking.
Mr. Roboto
1988
Michael Dukakis and George H. W. Bush:
The moderator notoriously asked Dukakis: Would he support the death penalty if his wife was raped and murdered? Voters latched onto Dukakis’ automatic, emotionless response: “No,” he said, with no mention of personal pain or tragedy. “I think there are better and more effective ways to deal with violent crime.”
Hold up, mister
1988
Vice presidential debate
Lloyd Bentsen and Dan Quayle:
Quayle compared his time in Congress to JFK’s, but Bentsen, who knew and served with the former president, admonished the younger candidate: “Senator, you’re no Jack Kennedy.”
Tut, tut
1980
Ronald Reagan and Jimmy Carter:
Reagan’s experience as an actor paid off as he delivered memorable lines that reproached Carter’s performance both in the debate (“There you go again.”) and in office (“Are you better off today than you were four years ago?”).
Facts, shmacts
1976
Jimmy Carter and Gerald Ford:
Ford made a gaffe–inaccurately saying the Soviet Union did not control Eastern Europe –and maintained he was right in later interviews.
Hello, gorgeous
1960
John Kennedy and Richard Nixon:
After the first live nationally televised debate, voters who listened to it on the radio thought Nixon won, but those who watched a handsome, well-dressed Kennedy at ease on camera saw JFK as the clear victor.
–REDEYE
WANT TO WATCH?
Thursday’s debate starts at 8 p.m. and can be seen on all the major networks plus CNN, Fox, Fox News, MSNBC, PBS, C-Span and Telemundo.
AD WATCH
Some spots meant for press, not for TV
Almost daily, either the Bush campaign or Republican groups roll out ads criticizing Sen. John Kerry, and the Democrat’s campaign pushes out an ad countering the charges.
While you’re likely to catch snippets of the tit-for-tat ads on the news, you’d be hard-pressed to find some of Kerry’s responses on the air anywhere else. At least three such ads–released by the Kerry campaign with great fanfare in the past week–haven’t reached any TV stations.
“The Kerry campaign is trying to have two conversations: one with the press and one with voters,” said Evan Tracey of TNS Media Intelligence/Campaign Media Analysis Group, which tracks political ads.
Releasing ads that never run or that air only a few times is a common tactic used by campaigns to ensure that their messages get in the news of the day.
Quick and easy to make, ads cost anywhere from $10,000 to $15,000 to produce, but they can receive hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of free exposure when TV news reports on them.
President Bush’s campaign also has used the tactic, but to a much lesser extent.
–AP
WHERE ARE THEY?
Bush: Toured hurricane-ravaged central Florida on Wednesday. He plans to spend Thursday in Coral Gables, Fla., site of the first debate. He’s going to a postdebate watch party in Miami.
Kerry: Finished his prep Wednesday in Wisconsin before flying to Miami. He, too, will spend Thursday in Coral Gables.
Later, he’ll attend a rally in Miami.
BY THE NUMBERS
90: Number of minutes Kerry and Bush will debate. All the debates will begin at 8 p.m.
4: Debates scheduled in the next two weeks.
46.6M: Viewers who watched the first presidential debate in 2000 between Bush and Gore.
