No KO Punch By Dole

By R. Morris Barrett/AllPolitics

WASHINGTON (AllPolitics, Oct. 7) -- So who won the debate? Clinton or Dole? That's the question everyone is asking, and nearly everybody has a different answer.

President Bill Clinton did what he had to do: committed no major gaffes, stayed largely above the fray, acted presidential. No disastrous highlight films here. GOP challenger Bob Dole turned in a steady if unspectacular performance, mixing flashes of wit with a persistent critique of the Clinton Administration. No hatchet man, no wandering thoughts, no disasters.

Calling it a draw would probably be fair. But a draw, in reality, is a Clinton win, because the debate most likely did nothing to change the fundamental course of the campaign. And that could be construed as a disaster for Dole, who remains mired in a double-digit deficit in the polls.

The 90-minute encounter was billed as a make-or-break opportunity for the Kansan, and many of the 60 million people who tuned in expected high drama, bold pronouncements, angry accusations and heated denials. Instead, they saw the nation's two top politicians spar in intense but intelligent tones on topics including Dole's tax proposal, Clinton's recent Middle East summit, Whitewater pardons, school choice, health care, campaign finance reform and their vision for America.

With expectations high that Dole would use the occasion to restart (once again) his struggling campaign, many found the event anti-climactic. But their preconceptions prevented them witnessing a fine debate.

Dole's caustic wit was in agile form, and he frequently needled the president with a neat, but perhaps ultimately ineffective, mix of humor and attacks. His strategy was clearly to stay positive and avoid specific personal attacks. When Dole was asked by moderator Jim Lehrer to comment on the candidates' personal differences, Dole stayed positive. "I like Mr. Clinton personally," Dole said. And the president chimed in: "I like Senator Dole. It's just we see things in different ways."

Dole broke little new ground while giving the viewers a lucid, if passionless, recitation of key campaign themes he's presented on the stump and over the airwaves. He called the economy lackluster to highlight his call for a 15-percent tax cut. He told Clinton to stop running ads scaring the elderly that Dole is out to gut Medicare and other social programs.

"I'm not some extremist out here," he said, pointing out he'd served on a commission to preserve Social Security. "I care about people."

After his forceful nomination speech in San Diego, Dole might have been expected to be more dynamic. But some of his key criticisms -- Clinton's opposition to the balanced budget amendment, the administration's failed health strategy, his failure to enact a middle-class tax cut -- were delivered with little rhetorical flourish. It's as if Bob Dole decided to let the real Bob Dole loose, and that's exactly who viewers watched.

"The best thing going for Bob Dole is Bob Dole keeps his word," Dole repeated. And, "I trust the people, the president trusts the government." He repeated his charge of Clinton as a "liberal" -- simply "stuck" with the label, Dole asserted. But the Kansan never explained exactly what the "liberal" charge meant, and ultimately, Clinton's defense -- invoking the old southern aphorism of "that dog won't hunt"-- probably rang true with most viewers.

The president, for his part, deftly parried most of Dole's thrusts, and found ample opportunity to recite his standard litany of what he sees as the accomplishments from his first term: 10 million new jobs, lower deficits, smaller government, and, perhaps above all, his vetoes ofRepublican budget plans.

"Four years ago you took me on faith. Now there is a record... a strong America at peace," Clinton said. "We are better off than we were four years ago. Let's keep it going."(256K WAV sound)

To Dole's charge that, while some may be better off now, most Americans are struggling, Clinton amiably replied, "It is not midnight in America, senator; we are better off than we were four years ago."

Clinton stressed repeatedly that "we have the right approach for the future," while hitting Dole's ""$550 billion tax scheme" as misguided and risky.

Early polling showed Dole was not getting a much-needed lift from his performance. A CNN poll of 615 likely voters taken immediately after the debate showed that by 51-32 percent, viewers thought the president had won. Seventy-four percent, however, felt Dole did better than they expected. The poll had a +/- four percentage point margin of error.

At a rally after the debate, Dole told supporters, "When the story is written about this campaign, the record will show that we turned it around in Hartford, Connecticut."

That's a familiar line. The Dole campaign has been insisting all year that their candidate's good fortunes are just the next major campaign event away. First they said all he needed to do was clinch the GOP nomination. Then they said Dole quitting the Senate would allow voters to get to know him. Then it was his economic plan, then the selection of Jack Kemp as his running mate, then the GOP convention. It may just be too late for the first debate to prove a fresh new start.

No KO Punch By Dole

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