2004 United States presidential debates

The 2004 United States Presidential Election Debates are another in a regular series of presidential debates first held during the 1960 presidential election and held every four years since the 1976 presidential election.

The debates in 2004 are sponsored by the Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD). An alternative was proposed by the Citizens' Debate Commission; see the general article on debates for more information.

There are several third-party candidate debates which are independent of the CPD-sponsored debates.

Participant selection criteria

According to the CPD's website, the criteria for selecting candidates to participate in its 2004 presidential debates are based on evidence of eligibility (as defined in Article Two of the United States Constitution), evidence of ballot access, and evidence of electoral support based on national public opinion polls. Participants must be on enough state ballots to have at least a mathematical chance of securing an Electoral College majority in the 2004 presidential election. The key hurdle for third party candidates is that participants must have the support of at least 15% of the national electorate, based on the average of five "selected" national public opinion polling organizations.

The CPD applies these criteria in advance of each scheduled presidential debate. Invitations to the CPD's vice-presidential debate will be extended to the running mates of the candidates participating in the first presidential debate.

Application of selection criteria

Only President George W. Bush and Senator John F. Kerry met the CPD selection criteria for the first two presidential debates. It is widely expected that they will be the only candidates to meet the criteria for the final debate. As a result, only Vice President Dick Cheney and Senator John Edwards met the criteria for the vice presidential debate.

Schedule

Three presidential debates have been scheduled by the Commission on Presidential Debates:

1. September 30 at the University of Miami, with questions from moderator Jim Lehrer of PBS;
2. October 8 at Washington University in St. Louis, in a town-hall format moderated by Charles Gibson of ABC;
3. October 13 at Arizona State University, with questions from moderator Bob Schieffer of CBS.

One vice-presidential debate was held:

• October 5 at Case Western Reserve University, moderated by Gwen Ifill of PBS

Originally, the CPD specified that the first debate would be focused on domestic policy and the third focused on foreign policy. Those terms were changed in an announcement by the CPD on September 24, after it had reviewed the terms of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the Bush campaign and Kerry campaign from September 20. The CPD agreed that foreign affairs and homeland security will be the primary topic for the first debate, and domestic and economic policy will be the primary topic of the third debate. More broadly, it also agreed to make a "good faith effort" to accommodate the rest of the terms of the 32-page MOU.

The September 24th announcement, which was released in the format of a copy of a letter sent to the two campaigns, also noted CPD's pleasure at the willingness of the two campaigns to participate in the second, "town meeting"-style debate, yet was ambiguous about just what had been agreed to.

Originally, the CPD had announced that questions for the second debate would come from undecided voters selected by the Gallup Organization from the standard metropolitan statistical area surrounding the host city. This had been the policy followed for the 1992, 1996, and 2000 debates. But the September 24 letter to the two candidates did not comment on this; instead, it noted that campaign representatives can discuss participant selection methodology with Dr. Frank Newport of Gallup in order to resolve any open issues. One such issue was that the MOU specified that half the questions be asked by "soft Kerry supporters" and half by "soft Bush supporters", though what is meant by those terms was not made clear.

Format

For 2004, each debate lasts ninety minutes, includes a live audience, is without opening statements, may include follow-up questions from the moderator and ends with two-minute-long closing statements.

First presidential debate, September 30th

Jim Lehrer asked eighteen questions:

Questions for President Bush

1. Do you believe the election of Senator Kerry on November the 2nd would increase the chances of the U.S. being hit by another 9/11-type terrorist attack?
2. What about Senator Kerry's point, the comparison he drew between the priorities of going after Osama bin Laden and going after Saddam Hussein?
3. What criteria would you use to determine when to start bringing U.S. troops home from Iraq?
4. You have said there was a, quote, "miscalculation of what the conditions would be in postwar Iraq." What was the miscalculation, and how did it happen?
5. Has the war in Iraq been worth the cost in American lives? Ten thousand fifty two — I mean, 1,052 as of today.
6. Does the Iraq experience make it more likely or less likely that you would take the United States into another preemptive military action?
7. Do you believe that diplomacy and sanctions can resolve the nuclear problems with North Korea and Iran?
8. There are clearly, as we have heard, major policy differences between the two of you. Are there also underlying character issues that you believe — that you believe are serious enough to deny Senator Kerry the job as Commander-in-Chief of the United States?
9. Did you misjudge [ President Putin ], or are you — do you feel that what he is doing in the name of anti-terrorism by changing some democratic processes is okay?

Questions for Senator Kerry

1. Do you believe you could do a better job than President Bush in preventing another 9/11-type terrorist attack on the United States?
2. What colossal misjudgments, in your opinion, has President Bush made in [fighting the war on terror]?
3. As President, what would you do specifically, in addition to, or differently, to increase the homeland security of the United States than what President Bush is doing?
4. Speaking of Vietnam, you spoke to Congress in 1971, after you came from Vietnam, and you said, quote, "How do you ask a man to be the last man to die for a mistake?" Are Americans now dying in Iraq for a mistake?
5. You've repeatedly accused President Bush — not here tonight, but elsewhere before — of not telling the truth about Iraq, essentially of lying to the American people about Iraq. Give us some examples of what you consider to be his not telling the truth.
6. Can you give us specifics — in terms of a scenario, time lines, et cetera — for ending U.S. — major U.S. military involvement in Iraq?
7. What is your position on the whole concept of preemptive war?
8. You mentioned Darfur, the Darfur region of Sudan. Fifty thousand people have already died in that area, more than a million are homeless and it's been labeled an act of ongoing genocide, yet, neither one of you — or anyone else connected with your campaigns or your administration that I can find — has discussed the possibility of sending in troops. Why not?
9. If you are elected President, what will you take to that office thinking is the single most serious threat to the national security of the United States?

Transcript and video stream

• Debate transcript from Wikisource
• Real player video stream of the debate from the BBC website

Post-debate poll

Sixty-two and a half million people tuned into the debates, an increase of just over 35% from 2000. A Gallup poll conducted following the debate among 615 registered voters found that 53 percent felt Kerry had done better than Bush, while those who were of the opposite opinion amounted to 37 percent. 46 percent said they had a more favorable opinion of Kerry after the debate, compared to 21 percent for Bush. [1]

Vice-presidential debate, October 5th

The vice-presidential debate between Dick Cheney and John Edwards was held as scheduled. The debate attracted a large audience, as 43.6 million people tuned in, nearly as many as had watched the presidential debates from 2000.

According to telephone interviews conducted by Survey USA in Florida, 44% of people thought that Cheney had "clearly won" the debate, while 40% of people said the same of Edwards.[2] A separate poll found of 1000 likely voters found that 43% believed Cheney won while only 37% felt Edwards did better. Moreover, after the debate 47% said that Cheney was "very qualified" to assume the responsibilities of president (a 7% rise), while only 25% said the same of Edwards (no change). [3]

Transcript and video stream

• Debate transcript from the White House website
• Real player video stream of the debate from the BBC website

Second presidential debate, October 8th

A CNN/USA Today/Gallup snap poll taken immediately after the presidential debate found that 47% of respondants felt Kerry had won while 45% said the same of Bush.

Video stream

• Real player video stream of the debate from the BBC website

Third presidential debate, October 13th

forthcoming

Third-party candidate debates

• January 29 - Former Green Party presidential nomination candidate and current independent vice-presidential candidate Peter Camejo debated Normon Solomon at the Crest Theatre, in downtown Sacramento, regarding what direction the Green Party should take in 2004. Camejo supported Ralph Nader, even as an independent candidate, and hoped that Nader could be persuaded to run with the Green Party. Solomon said that Nader should not run, and that the Greens should work to defeat George W. Bush (Republican). The debate was a benefit for listener-sponsored KVMR radio.
• August 31 - Michael Badnarik (Libertarian), David Cobb (Green), and Michael Peroutka (Constitution) debated in New York City. George W. Bush (Republican), John Kerry (Democrat), and Ralph Nader (independent) were invited to debate, but none of them accepted. The debate was moderated by Rob Richie, Executive Director of the Center for Voting and Democracy, and Walter Kane, a reporter for Channel 12 News. C-SPAN televised the debate on September 6.
• September 30 - Michael Badnarik (Libertarian) and David Cobb (Green) debated at 5 pm in Miami, across the street from the Bush-Kerry debate, which began at 9 pm. Unlike Bush and Kerry, Badnarik and Cobb took unscripted questions from the audience and from correspondents. The event was carried live by the Pacifica Radio Network.

External links

• Commission on Presidential Debates
• Citizens' Debate Commission
• Open Debates
• The Appleseed Citizens' Task Force on Fair Debates
• C-SPAN page on presidential debates
• Debate on the state of elections between Howard Dean and Ralph Nader, sponsored by Justice Talking