U.S. election debates bring memorable moment

By David Wiessler, Reuters, 10/01/00

WASHINGTON -- Remember Quemoy and Matsu?

Probably not, but in the autumn of 1960, when Democrat John Kennedy and Republican Richard Nixon were holding the first televised presidential debates, the fate of the two tiny islands off the Chinese coast was a major issue.

More likely to be recalled from those history-making events -- even by the millions who were not born then and have only seen snippets of old black-and-white film -- were Kennedy's cool and Nixon's 5 o'clock shadow.

So it is likely to be again this year when the two presidential rivals -- Democrat Al Gore and Republican George W. Bush -- square off for what is now a quadrennial slugfest.

For all the contenders' highfalutin discussion of the economy or foreign affairs, it is often one quote or a single gesture that remains in the minds of voters through the years.

It could be a mistake, like Gerald Ford's freeing of Poland, or a quip, like Ronald Reagan's "There you go again," or a tongue-lashing, like Lloyd Bentsen's dressing down of Dan Quayle, or an eloquent physical action, like George Bush's glances at his watch.

CLASH THAT STARTED IT ALL

Kennedy and Nixon began it all with four debates 40 years ago that many credit for tipping the tight election to the Democratic candidate. According to that theory, Kennedy defused questions about his youth and projected himself as a serious presidential candidate through a great command of the unfamiliar medium of television.

Debates did not resume for 16 years until Ford, who rose to the presidency through a series of scandal-related resignations, faced Democrat Jimmy Carter.

The revived event got off to a rocky start when a short circuit in some television equipment lost the sound transmission from the first debate. For nearly a half-hour, the two candidates just stood behind their podiums, not moving, not talking and not doing anything that might look unpresidential.

It was during a subsequent debate on foreign policy that Ford made a mistake that might have cost him votes in the very close election. Answering a question about the Soviet Union, Ford said, despite two decades of history to the contrary, "There is no Soviet domination of Eastern Europe."

FORD DUG SELF IN DEEPER

Ford compounded his problem when given a second chance to explain himself. He insisted that Yugoslavs, Romanians and Poles did not consider themselves under Soviet dominance.

Carter won but faced a far different debater in 1980: Reagan, the former California governor and movie star.

Many political pundits thought Reagan was too conservative or intellectually lightweight to be elected president. But just as the 1960 debates buried concerns about Kennedy's youth, the ex-governor's 1980 performance calmed many of those fears and made voters comfortable about voting for him.

"There you go again," he kept chiding Carter in a friendly conversational manner, and in the end, he asked voters a question that seemed to go to the heart of the campaign: "Are you better off than you were four years ago?"

Carter did not help his cause any by saying he had discussed the dangers of the nuclear arms race with his daughter, Amy, allowing Republicans to picture him as a man who took advice from a teen-ager on such a weighty matter.

A BEFUDDLED REAGAN

Four years later, Reagan found himself in trouble when he seemed befuddled in his first debate with former Vice President Walter Mondale, admitting at one point, "I'm all confused now."

But he rebounded in the next encounter when he put the age issues to rest by quipping: "I will not make age an issue in this campaign. I am not going to exploit for political purposes my opponent's youth and inexperience."

"I knew he had gotten me there," Mondale later told Jim Lehrer of PBS. "That was really the end of my campaign."

In 1988, Republican Vice President George Bush painted his Democratic opponent, Michael Dukakis, as an "iceman" lacking in passion, and he got help from the Massachusetts governor himself.

Asked whether he would favor putting the attacker to death if his wife had been raped and murdered, Dukakis responded with a statement of opposition to the death penalty that seemed to prove his opponent's point.

VOTERS INFERRED BOREDOM

Four years later, it was Bush who some critics said had fallen out of touch with American voters. During one debate with Democrat Bill Clinton and independent Ross Perot, he was twice caught looking at his wristwatch to see how much time was left.

Clinton took naturally to a new format introduced for some of the debates: a "town meeting" at which the public asked questions instead of a panel of journalists.

In 1996, he roamed the platform like a talk show host, leaving his Republican opponent, former Sen. Robert Dole, looking uncomfortable with the new style.

It was Dole's first appearance in 20 years in the televised national face-offs. He had debated Mondale in 1976 in the first vice-presidential debate. In that one, he enhanced his reputation as a political hatchet man by calling the wars America fought in the 20th century "Democrat wars."

UNDERCARD OFTEN BEST SPORT

Vice-presidential debates became a regular event in 1984, and those matches often were the liveliest of the campaign.

In 1984, Bush, then vice president, debated Democratic Rep. Geraldine Ferraro, the first woman to run on a major-party ticket. At once point, Bush started his answer, "Let me help you with the difference, Mrs. Ferraro, between Iran and the embassy in Lebanon."

Ferraro seethed through Bush's answer and then responded, "Let me say, first of all, that I almost resent, Vice President Bush, your patronizing attitude that you have to teach me about foreign policy." The audience interrupted with loud applause.

In 1988, the debate turned into a debacle for Quayle, a Republican senator. After giving several vague answers about what he would do if he ever had to assume the presidency, he pointed out he had as much congressional experience as Kennedy did when he reached the Oval Office.

Like a wolf jumping on a lamb, Quayle's Democratic rival, Sen. Lloyd Bentsen, responded: "I served with Jack Kennedy. I knew Jack Kennedy. Jack Kennedy was a friend of mine. Senator, you are no Jack Kennedy."

Quayle was devastated. But he learned. Four years later, seeking another term as vice president, he came out swinging against his Democratic opponent, Gore. With the two going after each other, the third person in the debate, Perot's running mate, retired Adm. James Stockdale, was mostly overlooked.

But in the confusion, he uttered the one line that put him in debate history: "Who am I? Why am I here?"