And there is some anxiety on both sides that it will happen in one of the debates. None of the ads mentions the underlying truth that only 12 million of the 47 million Americans currently on Medicare have to pay for prescription drugs completely out of their own pockets. When candidates are out to score political points, it muddies the argument to point out that most Medicare recipients have some form of prescription-drug benefit through either a pension or private insurance. It's hard to think of an issue agenda in a prior presidential race that was so narrowly focused on a problem that affects such a small, albeit politically motivated, segment of the electorate. This is not to deny that the prescription-drug issue can create haunting television images.
Medical care is complicated, but the drug issue is easy to emotionally understand.
Even though Democratic and Republican operatives proudly cite internal campaign polls to prove that their candidate is leading in Ohio, their boasts are tempered by the reality that the race is too close to call. And Bob Bennett, his GOP counterpart, likens it to the 1960 and 1980 elections, which were referendums on the administration in power. Bennett's diagnosis is a bit exaggerated. By most calculations, Gore can receive a winner's degree from the Electoral College without Ohio, a state in which the Republicans control all statewide elected offices. Asked to describe a typical undecided voter in Ohio, Leland gingerly alludes to the aftereffects of the scandals that have plagued Bill Clinton.