A large and lively crowd of just under a hundred watching in the Rockefeller Center largely agreed that Vice President Al Gore controlled the debate better than his opponent, Texas Governor George W. Bush, in last night's first presidential debate.
Both candidates enthusiastically drew distinctions on all the issues, especially in respect to tax-cuts and health care. This in itself may have been a victory for the Gore camp, according to government professor Linda Fowler.
"Bush needed to use his personal charm to make this about personality, not issues," she said just after the debate. "Gore did a good job making sure issues like the risks of Bush's tax cuts come up."
But she added that Bush had made "no mistakes of a serious sort."
No one was declaring a Bush victory, but newly elected College Republican president Kathleen Reeder '03 said "Bush has made a few good points." It took her a moment to name two of those points, social security reform and accountability in schools.
Young Democrats president Brian Stults '02 was more confident in declaring "resounding victory."
Both candidates seemed to be focusing on a few particular points.
Especially at the beginning of the debate, Bush introduced his comments by saying things like "I come from West Texas," or "I'm not from Washington, I'm from Texas," possibly to make himself seem closer to voter's interests.
He focused on Gore's plan as a source of a larger government bureaucracy, and often rebutted Gore's comments on issues like middle class tax cuts with comments like, "Why hasn't he done it in seven years?" frequently calling Gore's statistics "phony numbers" or "fuzzy numbers."
He also accused Gore of trying to "scare senior citizens in to the voting booth" with his depiction of Bush's tax cut.
Gore seemed to be pressing the point of Bush's tax cut only targeting "the wealthiest one percent of tax payers."
On issues like accountability in schools and rising oil prices, he frequently rebutted Bush by saying that his plan did what Bush's did, but also did more, such as having mandatory testing as Bush wanted for school standards, but also voluntary.
He also talked a great deal about Bush's health plan, frequently saying he would legislate social security to a "lockbox" so it couldn't be influenced by politicians, repeating the cumbersome word "lockbox" several times.
The crowd was interested and lively, reacting strongly when the candidates seemed to clash or when one, usually Gore, spoke out of turn to contradict the other on issues presented by the moderator, Jim Lehrer, and continually tried to recharacterize opponents' plans.
One of the most outspoken groups was the Green party supporters, who shouted slogans and gave out literature as the crowd left after the debates. The Greens held a meeting directly after the debates that drew about ten people.
Green supporters Craig Davis '01 and Mike Gallagher '01 said Gore seemed more intelligent, but that both were avoiding major issues. For example, in a question about when it would be appropriate for the U.S. to intervene in foreign affairs, both candidates sited national security with out defining it to their satisfaction.
As Fowler said, "Bush has two more chances." The next presidential debate, which will have a more informal style than this 90 minute debate, will occur in one week in Winston-Salem, NC, and the Vice Presidential debate will occur Thursday at Centre College in Danville, Kentucky.
This debate may have drawn up to 75 million viewers, according to the USA Today.
When asked what the effect of the debates may be on public opinion, Fowler said she was reminded of the Ford/Carter '76 debates. "Right after, it was said that Ford won, but then after a few days of pundits saying Carter won, he moved forward in the polls."
