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March 13, 2000
FORGET McCAIN IN 2004
John McCain has said he won't run for president again. "If I were 43 or 53, it might be different," McCain told his daughter, according to the Washington Post. "But I'm 63, a pretty old geezer. I can't see starting
over with town meetings of 20 people."
WHY NOT DEBATE GORE?
Al Gore obviously has data suggesting that his offer to replace all the 30-second and 60-second television spots with twice-a-week debates appeals
to voters. Otherwise he wouldn't be making the offer to George W. Bush, as he did to Bradley. Bush can't forswear ads, which would leave him at the mercy of the media. But agreeing to debate Gore might not be a bad idea.
The general assumption is that Gore is a great debater and Bush a lousy one. (See William Saletan's analysis of how the debate format suits Gore, and why it doesn't mean he's better qualified than Bush to be president.) If Bush debates Gore often enough, however, that advantage might be reduced, for four reasons.
As with most good ideas, this one comes from Paul Gigot of the Wall Street Journal. Here's why it makes sense.
First, the more debates there are, the less attention there is to any one of them. The stakes get lower, and the definition of a gaffe becomes more stringent. Second, Bush has been getting better as a debater and will doubtless continue to do so. Third, voters will evaluate Bush's performance in light of their expectations. If the early performances are
weak, the later ones will look better by comparison. That's what happened in the primary debates. Fourth, Bush will wear better than Gore. He's a more likable person, and people will root for him — especially against Gore, who reminds people of the kid in the front of the class with his arm in the air, pleading for the teacher to call on him.
But there has to be a limit. Twice a week is too much to ask of anyone — candidates, viewers, or reporters.
GORE, SELF LOATHER
With his pledge to make campaign-finance reform a major theme of the presidential race, Vice President Gore is sending a clear message to the American people: "Stop me before I shake down Buddhist nuns again!"
In an interview with the New York Times on Sunday, Gore said that during the 1996 campaign, "both parties pushed the limits" when it came to
campaign-finance rules. Everybody does it, in other words. Of course, only one party operated under "no controlling legal authority" that year, only one party had a for-rent sign posted on the door of the Lincoln Bedroom, and only one party went on to preside over a politicized Justice Department that has refused to investigate Democratic campaign-finance violations in the face of compelling evidence.
Gore continued, "I made a mistake going to that Buddhist temple. I made a mistake in making telephone calls from my office." He didn't say that he
made a mistake in drinking too much iced tea during meetings on campaign funding, but he probably thought about it.
"And I have learned from those mistakes," he proclaimed. Ever the good student. Yet this claim came just moments after Gore, in the same Times interview, accused Bush of lacking the experience to be president. In the course of seven sentences, in fact, he made the charge three times. There's a sure sign of a focus-group-tested theme. Get ready to hear it for the next eight months. Not to mention how Texas, in the words of Gore spokesman Douglas Hattaway, is "one of the worst places to raise a child." (Unlike the Fairfax Hotel.)
But "Al Gore: He Learns From His Mistakes" isn't exactly a bumper-sticker slogan. It certainly doesn't complement the anti-Bush rhetoric. So when the Times tried to ask Gore about the latest revelation concerning the mistakes he's made — there have been a bunch of new revelations, actually — Gore changed the subject. "That's old news," he said, and started to talk about air pollution in Texas. Apparently it's quite bad. Why? "Because of [Bush's] ties to this old-politics, special-interest campaign funding."
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Updated By:
Ramesh Ponnuru - Senior Editor
John J. Miller - National Political Reporter
Kate Dwyer - Editorial Associate
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