By Ron Fournier, Associated Press, 10/10/00
WASHINGTON -- The presidential candidates are going after each other off camera -- Is Al Gore trustworthy enough to be president? Is George W. Bush qualified? -- but when the lights go on Wednesday night for their second debate, voters can look for both men to turn on the charm.
Neither candidate wants to risk any further voter backlash by openly going on the attack, whatever their negative ads and quote-slinging surrogates are saying elsewhere.
"I think that each candidate has to let the other candidate's personal shortcoming speak for themselves," said independent pollster Andrew Kohut.
His new poll for the Pew Research Center shows the race even after last week's first debate, with both candidates suffering "personal image fallout" since summer.
More voters are questioning Gore's likability and trustworthiness, causing his September lead over Bush to vanish. The vice president's sharpest drops have been among some of his strongest supporters, particularly women.
On the other hand, Bush trails Gore by 18 percentage points when voters are asked to name the most qualified candidate. The Republican governor from Texas is less likely than Gore to be viewed as capable in a crisis.
Democratic strategist Dane Strother, who has seen similar results in private polling, boiled the campaign down to a sentence: "Bush is calling Gore a liar and Gore is calling Bush a dummy."
And yet both camps predict a straightforward, polite exchange Wednesday night. Their reasons differ.
Gore's advisers say he has to be Mr. Nice so voters will find him more likable. His reputation for political brawling -- and a superior attitude -- was magnified by his performance last week.
Asked Tuesday what he'll do differently, Gore said, "First of all, I think I'll sigh a little bit less" -- a reference to his noisemaking during Bush answers.
Bush, too, doesn't want to seem mean and thus displease voters who have heard him promise to be a "compassionate conservative." He is gambling that the media and GOP supporters will make the integrity case against Gore after the debate, leaving him the high road to become an acceptable alternative.
"When voters are saying, 'I'm not sure I can trust the vice president and I want to look at Bush to see if he can run the country,' the governor can take that and run with it," said Bush spokeswoman Mindy Tucker.
If asked about Gore's integrity, Bush plans to pivot quickly to other issues after saying trust must be an important consideration in the campaign, advisers said. That would be at least a modest departure from the first debate, when Bush seized his first chance late in the debate to directly question Gore's character.
The Democrat's own advisers say Bush's post-debate strategy hurt Gore. Republicans hammered the vice president all week for every misstatement or exaggeration he committed, focusing on two cases: Gore said he inspected flood and fire damage in Texas in 1998 with James Lee Witt, the director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and he said a 15-year-old Sarasota, Fla., girl was having to stand in an overcrowded science class.
Gore has since acknowledged that he went to Texas but not with Witt. And the principal of the school in Sarasota said the girl only stood one day, though local newspaper articles and a letter from the girl's father supported Gore's story.
Bush hopes to inflame voters' doubts about Gore honesty to counter the vice president's advantage on issues such as health care, prescription drugs for seniors and the economy. Gore holds a double digit lead on those issues, according to the Pew poll, and Bush has only managed to tie Gore on the traditionally GOP issue of taxes.
With the economy booming and the nation at peace, Bush must make Gore's character an issue, analysts say. By doing so, he reminds voters of President Clinton's impeachment and other ethical lapses during Gore's stay at the White House.
Titled "Trust," Bush's newest ad outlines his vision for government but opens with a line sure to remind many voters of Clinton's affair with Monica Lewinsky: "I believe we need to encourage personal responsibility so people are accountable for their actions."
Republican Party ads say Gore can't be trusted with the federal budget surplus or tax-cutting promises.
Democratic ads, meanwhile, are criticizing the Republican's record in Texas. And Gore's advisers are openly questioning Bush's intellect, branding him a bumbling lightweight.
"Governor Bush seems incapable of talking about the important issues in this campaign in a coherent way," said Gore deputy campaign manager Mark Fabiani.
The Bush campaign's reply was obvious: Don't trust anything the Gore campaign says.
Don't expect that kind of talk Wednesday night, either.
Ron Fournier is the chief political writer for The Associated Press.
