All The Spin

"This night was totally Bob Dole's."

President Clinton "was on the defensive, and he was smug and uptight all night."

"I think you saw significant differences between these candidates tonight. On taxes, Senator Dole explained his economic plan, established that he could cut taxes and balance the budget against the president's challenge that he couldn't .... Senator Dole established that he wouldn't cut Medicare, despite the president's charge that he would ... a good discussion about welfare, differing philosophies on that."

"I think that the president won. He talked about his accomplishments in office. He talked about his agenda for the future. Most importantly, he talked to the audience and with the audience. Senator Dole very often was not connecting with the folks here in the audience, and the president was."

"I hope the Braves don't have as many swings and misses and strikeouts as Charlie [Black] and his candidate are having tonight ... Senator Dole tried very hard to be hatchet man, but, in the year of the soccer moms, that just doesn't work."

"If I had to choose one characterization for this debate, it was when the president said, "No attack ever created a job or educated a child or helped a family make ends meet .... "

"The president was trying to say 'I have a record, I'm running on my record. This other guy is doing nothing but complaining.'

"I thought Dole had some good hits on the president, particularly on the tax hike that Clinton promised. But in the end, I thought Clinton was very clear in defending his record."

"It was clear Bob Dole understood he had to make this a referendum on Bill Clinton. He tried on the issues of character .... He tried hard on the economy, but there I thought he was reaching a lot when he said that this the worst economy in a century. Most Americans just don't agree with that.

"I thought that Bill Clinton again demonstrated his mastery of this format with the eye contact .... but when he said that he really supported campaign spending reform, that was probably his worst moment."

The Republicans "have developed these nearly theological distinctions between some kinds of attacks and other kinds of attacks, and I think to the average person, and to me too, they all look like attacks."

"Bill Clinton was talking abut expanding government, giving us a tax credit if we do what he wants us to do. Bob Dole was talking about lowering the tax rate across the board, cutting the capital gains tax, expanding the economy ... "

"Clearly, he [Clinton] didn't answer the questions that were posed to him."

"In style, you'll notice that Bob Dole attacked the president time and time again, the president chose not to attack and I think that, as we've seen in South Dakota, the negativism in politics is probably at an all-time high and I think it repels the voters."