From: sieferme@stein.u.washington.edu (Eric Sieferman)
Newsgroups: alt.fan.dan-quayle
Subject: Re: Veep candidates square off, hoping to avoid pitfalls
Keywords: usa federal, government, politics
Date: 13 Oct 92 21:06:01 GMT
Organization: University of Washington, Seattle

Here is a preview of the RepubliCon's strategy for
today's VP debate:
---------------------------------------------------------------

In article <veepdebatesU2OD1215ae@clarinet.com>
clarinews@clarinet.com (STEVEN HEILBRONNER) writes:
>	WASHINGTON (UPI) -- The three vice presidential candidates prepared
>for their first and only debate Tuesday evening in Atlanta, each hoping
>to lift the prospects of their tickets without commiting a lethal gaffe.
>	Sen. Al Gore, the Democratic nominee, and Vice President Quayle have
>each held several mock debates to prepare for the session, while Ross
>Perot's running mate, James Stockdale, has boned up on the issues by
>studying briefing books and talking with colleagues at the Hoover
>Institution, where he is a senior fellow.
>	Unlike the first highly controlled presidential debate Sunday
>featuring a panel of journalists, the vice presidential encounter will
>be run by a single moderator, Hal Bruno of ABC News, inviting more time
>for direct confrontation.
>	``In my mind, with a single moderator we have a much greater
>opportunity for interaction,'' said Sheila Tate, a Bush adviser during
>the 1988 campaign.
>	Most political analysts say the sole encounter, while somewhat
>intriguing, is only as important as the candidates make it.
>	``I think in most instances the election comes down to the
>performance of the top of the ticket,'' said Democratic pollster Peter
>Hart, who noted that Democrat Bill Clinton's popularity in polls
>increases over Bush by one to two percentage points when surveys include
>the respective vice presidential candidates.
>	``They all have to remember that the debate is not about them, it is
>about the presidency,'' said Martin Anderson, a senior fellow at Hoover
>who was a domestic aide to President Reagan.

Ok, ok, here is the part about Our Boy:

>	While that may be true, viewers will likely tune in to gauge whether
>Quayle has matured in the last four years and would, if called upon, be
>able to take over for Bush immediately.
>	Most observers say Quayle could only improve from his disastrous
>performance in 1988 when Democrat Lloyd Bentsen put him through a
>shredder.
>	Quayle has prepared extensively for the debates, holding several mock
>sessions that included Sen. Warren Rudman, R-N.H., acting as Clinton,
>and former arms negotiator Kenneth Adelman, who played the moderator. A
>Quayle national security aide, Karl Jackson, played Stockdale.
>	While Quayle has assumed a role in the administration to reduce
>government regulation and trumpet proposals to decrease lawsuits, his
>principal role in the debate will be to defend the president and attack
>Clinton's record as governor of Arkansas, his aides said.
>	Quayle almost certainly will attack Clinton in forceful tones, partly
>to prove his muscle and in an attempt to illustrate that the Clinton-
>Gore ticket is liberal, too extreme and dangerous for the nation.
>	``It's always a referendum on Clinton-Bush,'' Tate said. But she
>added, ``I think Dan Quayle needs to make clear ideological distinctions
>between himself and Gore.''
>	Another Republican was more blunt: ``He has to do Bush's dirty work
>and I think Quayle is up to it,'' said the official who served in the
>Reagan White House.

Do Bush's dirty work, indeed!  Does DQ have the "muscle"
for it (snicker)?

>	Gore, however, is not considered a presumed danger to Clinton and, in
>fact, may be in a position to enhance Clinton's standing in foreign
>affairs and on environmental issues.
>	Clinton often cites Gore as an authority on arms control and while he
>has not fully embraced Gore's widely distributed treatise, ``Earth in
>the Balance,'' the governor mentions it to hightlight the ticket's
>commitment to the environment.
>	``My focus is to do everything I can to help Bill Clinton win this
>election and that means delivering a broader message as well,'' Gore
>told supporters recently in Madison, Wis.
>	Nonetheless, Bush and Quayle have accused Gore of environmental
>extremism, saying he proposes measures that will reduce jobs in industry
>and commerce.
>	Stockdale, the obscure 68-year-old retired Navy combat pilot who is a
>scholar at Stanford University's Hoover Institution, is more comfortable
>with philosophy, his specialty, than health care and job training.
>	But the former Vietnam prisoner of war who spent years in solitary
>confinement is considered eloquent and engaging.
>	``I think he's a complete wildcard and I think we just have to wait
>and see,'' Tate said.
>	John Bunzel, a senior research fellow at Hoover and a friend of
>Stockdale's said, ``This is a man who has spent little of his life
>thinking about public policy questions that would come up in a vice
>presidential debate.''
>	But he said, ``I expect him to try to deal with one or two concepts
>and talk about them as honestly as he can.''


-- 
| Eric Sieferman            |    sieferme@u.washington.edu          |
| U. of W., M.C.I.S.        |    (206) 685-3104                     |