|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
WASHINGTON (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - In their third and final debate at Washington University in St Louis, Missouri, Vice President Al Gore and Texas Governor George W. Bush focused on domestic issues.
The debate began on a solemn note with a moment's silence to mark Monday night's fatal plane crash in which the Democratic Governor of Missouri, Mel Carnahan, his son, and his campaign adviser were killed. After the moment of silence, in his quest to regain the upper hand in the presidential race, Gore attacked Bush over his policies on health, education and taxes, while Bush countered accusing the vice-president of being a "big spender" in the shadow of previous Democrats who have sought - and failed - to reach the White House. But Gore was able to come out fighting - the pressure on him to perform after failing to be on top of things in his first two encounters with Bush. The Democrat portrayed himself as a fighter for the common man, and his opponent as a vanguard of the privileged. The two candidates tackled questions from a panel of some 150 undecided voters, who could well decide the outcome in the November 7 elections. Bush's central campaign theme is a $1.3 trillion tax cut, while Gore has offered significant expansion of social spending, yet pledged to pay down the national debt by 2012. The town-hall-style debate late Tuesday was considered by some political analysts Bush's worst and Gore's best, but in snap polls taken immediately after the 90-minute event Gore managed to pull only slightly ahead of his rival - the candidates were still in a statistical dead-heat. The candidates sparred over issues atop the citizens' agendas and highlighted contrasting plans and vastly different styles. From how best to improve education or health care to the global role the U.S. can or should play. The Republican champion offered vision and the Democratic standard-bearer countered with experience. Asked what made him the best candidate to deal with the volatile situation in the Middle East, Bush replied: "I've been a leader, been a person who has to set a clear vision and convince people to follow." "Our nation needs to be credible and strong. When we say we're somebody's friend, everybody has got to believe it. Israel is our friend and we'll stand by Israel. We need to reach out to modern Arab nations as well," he said. Gore countered that he enlisted to serve in the Vietnam War - tweaking Bush, who did not - and touted his focus on foreign affairs during 24 years of service in the House of Representatives, Senate, and the White House. "We'll face serious new challenges in the next four years. I've worked on that long and hard," he said. The clashes showcased each candidate's strength: Gore marshaled his vast mastery of policy details and seemed to rely on polls showing him the favorite on the issues, while Bush vowed to bring new leadership to Washington, reflecting the surveys' findings that the U.S. public prefers his warmer style. Predictably, the two vice presidential candidates came out in favor of their man after the debate. "America is headed in the right direction. Al Gore ... has the record to show that he is the one to keep the prosperity going," said Connecticut Senator Joseph Lieberman to CNN. "I thought Governor Bush did a superb job tonight," said former defense secretary Dick Cheney, also to CNN. "He focused on the broad philosophical differences between the two campaigns." According to The New York Times, Gore "dominated the exchanges," was "more muscular" in his responses and, in contrast to the two previous debates, "recaptured some of the passion of his Democratic convention speech in August. But like the interviews with still undecided voters after the debate, the daily agreed it would take several days before a firm sense of who won the debate comes through. Two snap polls taken after Tuesday's debate gave Gore the edge - CNN by a 46-44% margin, CBS television 45-40%, and ABC scored it a 41-41% draw with 14% of voters undecided. Republicans and Democrats acknowledged the match-up could be crucial to deciding what may be the tightest presidential race in four decades, pointing to national polls showing the two major party hopefuls neck-and-neck. But analysts agreed Gore faced the more serious challenge after losing ground to his rival after the first two exchanges, on October 3 and October 11, despite being seen as the more experienced debater. A Washington Post-ABC News poll published Tuesday put Bush's lead at 48-44%, while in a CNN-Gallup poll it was 47-44%; both leads were within the surveys' margins of error. |
|
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
