Scholastic Student Reporter
 President Bush and presidential candidate John Kerry greet each other at the end of the first of their three presidential debates at the University of Miami on Thursday, September 30, 2004. (Photo: AP Photo/Gerald Herbert) |
The rules for the debate were specified in a 32-page contract between the two parties, including the temperature of the room and the height of the podiums. The candidates had two minutes to answer direct questions about foreign policy and homeland security from the moderator, PBS news anchor Jim Lehrer. Rebuttals were limited to 90 seconds. Occasionally, Lehrer allowed additional 30-second responses from each candidate.
Preventing future terrorist acts like those of September 11 was an issue on everyone's mind, and was the first to be addressed by the candidates.
"I can make America safer than President Bush has made us. And I believe President Bush and I both love our country equally," Kerry said. "But we just have a different set of convictions about how to make America safe."
Kerry also added that the President was spending a lot of money—$200 billion—on the Iraq war instead of fulfilling homeland security needs in the U.S.
Bush replied, "We're doing everything we can at home, but you better have a President who chases these terrorists down and brings them to justice before they hurt us again."
According to Kerry, Bush made a lot of mistakes in his effort to make America safer, and that he broke his promise to use war only as a last resort. In his rebuttal to this, President Bush said Saddam Hussein refused to comply with United Nations resolutions, and he therefore felt the U.S. had to act.
Bush argued that Kerry sent mixed messages. He said Kerry could not say it was the wrong war in the wrong place at the wrong time, and still support U.S. troops.
Kerry seized the opportunity to make a reference to his experience as a veteran. "I believe that when you know something's going wrong, you make it right," he said. "That's what I learned in Vietnam. When I came back from that war I saw that it was wrong. Some people don't like the fact that I stood up to say no, but I did."
What America Thought
A poll by CNN, USA Today, and Gallup taken immediately after the debate showed that most felt Kerry had won. Many people said Kerry showed the American public for the first time who he was and what he stood for. But a narrow majority of the same voters said that Bush was more believable, likeable, and tough.
At a debate watching party in this reporter's living room, opinions were split.
Gabriel Hendel, a high school junior from California, felt the information presented by Kerry was still not enough. "I wish Kerry would tell us specifically how he intends to undo the damage in Iraq, instead of just reinforcing our knowledge about what is to be done," she told Scholastic News Online.
"Kerry was far better prepared for a 90-minute debate than Bush," said Liron Shapira, a young California Democrat. "Bush ran out of most of his material in the first third of the debate and was forced to repeatedly come back to the same few facts."
Ninth-grader Yael Hendel, also of California, agreed that Kerry won the debate, but not necessarily the votes he will need. "A lot of people feel comfortable in seeing that Bush already has led our country after a terrorist attack. With John Kerry, you don't know if he can do everything he's telling us," he said.
With just one month to the election, the stakes are extremely high for both candidates. The remaining debates will play a crucial role in swaying undecided voters. The next debate will be between vice-presidential candidates Dick Cheney and John Edwards on October 5 at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. Two additional presidential debates will follow on October 8 and October 13. Stay tuned!
