Bush said Gore's misstatements should matter to voters. I think credibility is important. With four weeks to go, the election could be decided by a relative handful of voters in a small number of key states. Voters unmoved so far by issues and ideology could be looking for something more visceral, like how a candidate looks and sounds in a debate. Though instant polls showed most viewers perceived Gore as the winner in last week's first debate, Bush, who had been trailing for several weeks, surged in the polls several days after the debate.
Most polls now show a statistical dead heat in the race.
Tuesday night's debate was expected to draw a television audience of about 35 million, down 10 million from the audience for last week's first debate. Both candidates' spin machines stood ready Wednesday night to pounce on anything that would fuel the message they began trying to make last week in Boston. In Boston, Gore said he inspected flood and fire damage in Texas with James Lee Witt, director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. It never happened. Gore has been to Houston in 1998 for an airport briefing on fire damage.