DAVE HILL/Daily Bruin Senior Staff Sara
Jenson (center), a linguistics student, and Gavin
Haag (right), a fourth-year theater student, enjoy dinner
at the Westwood Brew Co. while watching the third and final
presidential debate last night.
By David Drucker
Daily Bruin Reporter
Republican George W. Bush and Democrat Al Gore met in St. Louis
last night and engaged in a brisk debate of campaign issues and
governing philosophies.
The third and final showdown of the 2000 presidential campaign
was conducted town-hall meeting style on the campus of Washington
University, with moderator Jim Lehrer selecting questions that were
then posed directly to the candidates by the people who submitted
them.
According to John Scardino, media director for the Commission on
Presidential Debates ““ the event’s sponsor
““Â the CPD contracted The Gallup Organization to produce
a panel of 100 uncommitted voters.
The questions they asked touched on education, health care and
the current Middle East crisis, among other subjects. Gore answered
these questions in the aggressive, specifics-heavy manner he is
known for.
Though Bush looked flustered and off-balance at times, he
displayed his trademark congeniality and performed up to
expectations when the discussion veered towards the
philosophical.
“I thought Gore was more aggressive than he was in the
second debate,” said political science professor Ted Rueter,
who follows politics and the media.
“He came across more knowledgeable and gave more competent
answers,” Rueter added. “But he wasn’t obnoxious
like he was in the first debate.”
But Speech and Debate Team coach and lecturer Thomas Miller said
Bush was the better communicator Tuesday night, following a trend
of improvement since the first debate in Boston.
“Bush only got better as the debates progressed,” he
said. “He stayed on message, and that resonates.”
With election day less than three weeks away and most national
polls showing the nominees statistically even, members of both
parties saw this debate as a prime opportunity to reach the
undecided voter that pundits say may decide the election.
That could explain why this debate was the most combative of the
three, with each candidate attempting to draw a sharp contrast in
order to make a case for their election.
“I think that after three debates, the good people of this
country understand there is a difference,” Bush said in the
debate. “The difference between a big federal government and
someone who is coming from outside Washington who will trust
individuals.”
Gore rebutted the big government label, and characterized the
voters’ choice in terms of progress versus a return to the
past.
“If you want somebody who believes that we were better off
eight years ago than we are now and that we ought to go back to the
kinds of policies we had back then, emphasizing tax cuts mainly for
the wealthy, here is your man,” Gore said. “If you want
somebody who will fight for you and will fight for middle-class tax
cuts, then I am your man.”
An exchange regarding health care policy also produced one of
the sharper disagreements seen in any of the three debates.
When one audience member asked Gore if he would like to see the
country move towards federally funded health care, he answered yes:
“We should move step by step toward universal health
coverage, but I do not think the government should do all of
it,” he said.
Bush emphatically disagreed.
“I am absolutely opposed to a national care plan,”
he said. “I don’t want the federal government making
decisions for consumers or providers.”
Based on Tuesday night’s duel, supporters of both Gore and
Bush said their candidate offered voters the better choice.
“I think the major difference is that you have Bush,
who’s major policy is a tax cut for the wealthy,” said
Bruin Democrats President Melanie Ho. “And you have Gore, who
will spread the prosperity so that it reaches everybody.”
Bruin Republican Chair Vartan Djihanian countered, saying that
Bush simply has a different philosophy. “I think Bush trusts
the American people more than Gore does. Gore wants more government
intervention,” he said. “I think Americans are afraid
of this.”
Miller said the political discourse resulting from the debates
is healthy for American democracy and helps voters make a more
informed choice.
“I think we can tell something about these men and their
character from the debates,” he said. “We got different
information and saw different sides of the candidates by using
three different formats.”
With reports from Daily Bruin wire services.