Iraq War and Jobs Dominate
the Second Debate Between Bush and Kerry
ST. LOUIS, Missouri- President Bush and Sen. John Kerry will faced questions from an audience of uncommitted voters in their second debate Friday night, with tepid jobs numbers and the war in Iraq certain to be points of contention. The 90-minute encounter comes eight days after the candidates' initial faceoff, which seemed to give Democrat Kerry a boost. The Massachusetts senator had a slight lead in an Associated Press-Ipsos poll concluded on the eve of the debate. This time the setup was different. Uncommitted voters chosen by the Gallup Organization wrote out questions in advance, and 15-20 selected questioners were to address the candidates on nationwide TV in a town hall-style format at Washington University. Bush advisers privately acknowledged that the president hurt himself in the first debate by grimacing and fidgeting during Kerry's answers and by failing to seize upon openings the Democrat gave him. They felt better about Vice President Dick Cheney's performance Tuesday against Kerry running mate Sen. John Edwards, and predicted that Bush would be tougher on Kerry in the second contest. Bush sharpened his criticism of Kerry in a new stump speech arranged after the lackluster first encounter. He said Kerry would "make the world more dangerous." Kerry stepped up his rhetoric, too, after a report raised fresh questions about Saddam Hussein's ability to make weapons of mass destruction - the president's main rationale for war. "This week has provided definitive evidence as to why George Bush should not be re-elected president of the United States," Kerry said as he wrapped up debate preparations. Bush spent the day with top aides at the home of a St. Louis Cardinals owner where he is staying.
He went out fishing in the rain to relax. Kerry checked out the debate site and said he would be talking about "a better plan to put Americans back to work." New unemployment figures, the last before the election, showed Bush as the first president since the Depression to have the nation lose jobs during his term. Bush focused on the positive in a new television ad boasting that nearly 2 million jobs had been added in the past year. Overall there are 821,000 fewer nonfarm jobs in the country than when Bush took office in January 2001. The debate also came the day before Afghanistan was to hold its first direct presidential election after more than two decades of war. The first debate was watched by 62.5 million viewers. But the second encounter was not expected to draw as many because it came on a Friday night at the same time baseball playoffs were airing. Some 43.6 million viewers were estimated to have watched Tuesday night's vice presidential debate. The audience chosen to question the candidates was divided evenly by "soft" Bush and Kerry supporters - prospective voters who were leaning but open to change their minds. Their participation was tightly controlled in a detailed agreement between the two campaigns. The audience members had to submit their questions in advance to moderator Charles Gibson, co-host of ABC's "Good Morning America," who was to choose an equal number on foreign and domestic policy. The candidates were not supposed to get the questions in advance. If a questioner asked something different from originally proposed in writing, Gibson was supposed to interrupt and their microphone would be turned off. The candidates were not allowed to refer to anyone in the audience. The setting was familiar to Bush - he and Democrat Al Gore had their final debate in a town hall setting at Washington University four years ago. Bush's father also debated there 12 years ago against Democrat Bill Clinton and independent candidate Ross Perot.-
Nidra Pickller