The only scorecard that counts for Tuesday night's first presidential debate of 2000 is the public reaction. But in thinking about my own scorecard, I've jotted down five tests for Vice President Gore and five others for Texas Gov. George W. Bush. It is the centerpiece of the Republican's economic plan and perhaps the most vulnerable plank in his platform.
Polls consistently show that voters put a higher priority on paying down the national debt.
And Gore can plausibly argue that the scale of that tax plan could prevent Bush from delivering on his promises to protect Social Security and Medicare and improve the schools. Bush's rebuttals require rapid mental math, not his strong suit. To mobilize core Democrats, Gore must defend President Clinton's record against any Bush attacks, raise the specter of a Republican Congress seeing every one of the bills Clinton has stopped with his vetoes being signed into law and, finally, the Supreme Court being remade by a president who has said his ideal justice is Antonin Scalia. If Gore appears to be patronizing Bush and the TV audience, he is in trouble. In his Atlantic magazine article on the evolution of Gore's debating style, James Fallows shows how Gore has mastered the art of disconcerting his opponents.