By Mike Feinsilber, Associated Press, 10/04/00
WASHINGTON -- Four out of five high school and college debate coaches picked Al Gore as the better debater Tuesday while the fifth called George W. Bush the "cool, clear and in command" winner over an "occasionally overbearing and oratorical" Gore.
The Associated Press panel, drawn from across the country, judged Gore and Bush in six categories -- reasoning, evidence, organization, refutation, cross-examination and presentation -- and gave Gore 128 points to 121 for Bush. A perfect score would be 130.
"I'm not sure who wins the 'math debate,' but the vice president clearly established he would make the superior commander in chief," said one of the judges, William Southworth, debate coach at the University of Redlands in Redlands, Calif. "On each topic dealing with foreign policy, the governor was uncertain in both content and presentation."
But James Copeland, of Ripon, Wis., executive secretary of the National Forensic League, a 2,600-high school organization which sponsors debate tournaments, felt Bush edged out Gore, largely on the way he handled himself.
"Bush was cool, clear and in command," said Copeland, "while Gore appeared overeager, overbearing and oratorical."
The other members of the panel were James J. Unger, director of the National Forensics Institute, which brings together high school and college debaters and educators to study competitive debate; Melissa Maxcy Wade, director of forensics at Emory University in Atlanta, and William Woods Tate Jr. of Nashville, Tenn., president of the National Forensic League.
Unger said the debate was so evenly matched and so spirited that "both candidates bought time. After the first debate many more voters will be, should be willing to listen to the next two," he said.
At the same time, he faulted both debaters for sidestepping tough questions.
"Debates are often exercises in 'error avoidance' but too often this meant 'message avoidance' and 'issue avoidance' as well," Unger said.
Gore was at his best in dealing with the economy and Social Security while Bush was stronger in discussing the energy issue and making appointments to the Supreme Court, said Tate, who awarded Gore 25 points to 22 for Bush.
He said Bush made a tactical error in turning his back to the audience at the very start.
On the other hand, he said, Gore came across as though he were speaking to the audience in the auditorium rather than those at home. "I felt like he was on a stage," he said.
Wade said Bush "sounded conversational and effective, equaling Gore's fact-filled style of presentation." Gore's advantage, she said, came in his "persistent control of the refutation cycle," though she faulted him for his "loud sighing into the microphone."
