Wednesday, October 13, 2004
October 13, 2004
Bush and Kerry Focus on Debate; Running Mates Sharpen RhetoricBy DAVID STOUT
resident Bush and Senator John Kerry practiced for their third and final debate tonight, leaving their running mates to throw gibes during the day.
Vice President Dick Cheney, campaigning in northwestern Pennsylvania, accused Mr. Kerry of not being serious enough to shoulder the burdens of the Oval Office. And Senator John Edwards said the American people could help the economy by firing George W. Bush.
Mr. Cheney based his attack on a word that Mr. Kerry used recently and might like to have back. The senator responded to a question for an article in The New York Times magazine by saying, "We have to get back to the place we were, where terrorists are not the focus of our lives, but they're a nuisance."
Mr. Cheney turned Mr. Kerry's words against him today as the vice president spoke to supporters in Saxonburg, Pa. "There was never a time when terrorism was a nuisance," Mr. Cheney said, according to a transcript released by the White House. "There never can be a time when terrorism is a nuisance. Our goal is not to reduce terror to some acceptable level — our goal is to defeat terror, and with George Bush as president, America will stay in the fight until the fight is won."
The Kerry campaign quickly retorted that one of President Bush's advisers, retired Lt. Gen. Brent Scowcroft, had used the word "nuisance" in the same context just two years ago, asserting that the United States could reduce the threat of terrorism "so that it is a horrible nuisance, and not a paralyzing influence."
The focus of this evening's prime-time debate between Mr. Bush and his Democratic challenger was to be domestic issues, so the back-and-forth between the vice president and the Kerry campaign may have been the day's last words on terrorism.
Marc Racicot, the former Montana governor and the Bush-Cheney campaign chairman, said today that 20 Republican governors and other prominent party members will be on the road until Election Day conveying the president's message of "a safer world and a more hopeful America."
Senator Edwards was concentrating on domestic issues as he campaigned in Oregon and Colorado. Mr. Kerry's running mate described Mr. Bush as being out of touch with problems of deep interest to less privileged Americans, like health care and unemployment.
Mr. Edwards seized on a remark Monday by Treasury Secretary John W. Snow, who said on Monday that it was simply a "myth" that the Bush administration has a poor record on job creation.
Telling a crowd in Medford, Ore., that four million Americans "have fallen into poverty in the last four years," Mr. Edwards said, "I wonder if that's a myth."
He added: "Here's the truth. Come November 2 we're going to send George Bush out of town and that will not be a myth."
Historically, the first debate between presidential candidates is the one most watched. When Mr. Bush and Mr. Kerry faced off for the first time, on Sept. 20 at the University of Miami in Florida, they were watched by nearly 63 million people. The television audience dropped by about 17 million people for their second debate, last Friday in St. Louis.
This evening, the candidates were not just up against a sense of familiarity. They were competing against two baseball playoff games, which were likely to siphon away millions of potential viewers. The games between the Yankees and the Boston Red Sox in New York and the Cardinals and the Houston Astros in St. Louis were both scheduled to begin at 8:19 p.m.
Since the debate in Tempe, Ariz., was to begin at 9 Eastern time and run 90 minutes, there was sure to be plenty of opportunity for channel-surfing.
Randal C. Archibold contributed reporting from Oregon for this article.
Bush and Kerry Focus on Debate; Running Mates Sharpen RhetoricBy DAVID STOUT
resident Bush and Senator John Kerry practiced for their third and final debate tonight, leaving their running mates to throw gibes during the day.
Vice President Dick Cheney, campaigning in northwestern Pennsylvania, accused Mr. Kerry of not being serious enough to shoulder the burdens of the Oval Office. And Senator John Edwards said the American people could help the economy by firing George W. Bush.
Mr. Cheney based his attack on a word that Mr. Kerry used recently and might like to have back. The senator responded to a question for an article in The New York Times magazine by saying, "We have to get back to the place we were, where terrorists are not the focus of our lives, but they're a nuisance."
Mr. Cheney turned Mr. Kerry's words against him today as the vice president spoke to supporters in Saxonburg, Pa. "There was never a time when terrorism was a nuisance," Mr. Cheney said, according to a transcript released by the White House. "There never can be a time when terrorism is a nuisance. Our goal is not to reduce terror to some acceptable level — our goal is to defeat terror, and with George Bush as president, America will stay in the fight until the fight is won."
The Kerry campaign quickly retorted that one of President Bush's advisers, retired Lt. Gen. Brent Scowcroft, had used the word "nuisance" in the same context just two years ago, asserting that the United States could reduce the threat of terrorism "so that it is a horrible nuisance, and not a paralyzing influence."
The focus of this evening's prime-time debate between Mr. Bush and his Democratic challenger was to be domestic issues, so the back-and-forth between the vice president and the Kerry campaign may have been the day's last words on terrorism.
Marc Racicot, the former Montana governor and the Bush-Cheney campaign chairman, said today that 20 Republican governors and other prominent party members will be on the road until Election Day conveying the president's message of "a safer world and a more hopeful America."
Senator Edwards was concentrating on domestic issues as he campaigned in Oregon and Colorado. Mr. Kerry's running mate described Mr. Bush as being out of touch with problems of deep interest to less privileged Americans, like health care and unemployment.
Mr. Edwards seized on a remark Monday by Treasury Secretary John W. Snow, who said on Monday that it was simply a "myth" that the Bush administration has a poor record on job creation.
Telling a crowd in Medford, Ore., that four million Americans "have fallen into poverty in the last four years," Mr. Edwards said, "I wonder if that's a myth."
He added: "Here's the truth. Come November 2 we're going to send George Bush out of town and that will not be a myth."
Historically, the first debate between presidential candidates is the one most watched. When Mr. Bush and Mr. Kerry faced off for the first time, on Sept. 20 at the University of Miami in Florida, they were watched by nearly 63 million people. The television audience dropped by about 17 million people for their second debate, last Friday in St. Louis.
This evening, the candidates were not just up against a sense of familiarity. They were competing against two baseball playoff games, which were likely to siphon away millions of potential viewers. The games between the Yankees and the Boston Red Sox in New York and the Cardinals and the Houston Astros in St. Louis were both scheduled to begin at 8:19 p.m.
Since the debate in Tempe, Ariz., was to begin at 9 Eastern time and run 90 minutes, there was sure to be plenty of opportunity for channel-surfing.
Randal C. Archibold contributed reporting from Oregon for this article.
