Were going to start today by talking about candidate debates, and that is like my favorite thing about a campaign, whether i was on a Campaign Staff or a candidate. So im really excited to talk about this today. Im going to give you a little bit of history here, so president ial and Vice President ial, general election debates have become really the highlight of the Campaign Season and something we just expect to happen. That has not always been the case. Its also common in other races, particularly highprofile races, so when was the first president ial debate . Heres a trivia question, historical trivia. Anyone know . Give you a hint . No one recognizes those people . This is a false hint. Thats lincoln and douglas. A lot of time people think, you hear the famous Lincoln Douglas debates and they ran against each other for president in 1860. Actually, their debates is when they were both running for the u. S. Senate in illinois in 1858 and had numerous debates around the state of illin
[ cheers and applause ] for the next 90 minutes we will be questioning the candidates following a format designed and agreed to by representatives of the two campaigns. However, there are no restrictions in the questions that my colleagues and i can ask this evening, and the candidates have no prior knowledge of our questions. By agreement between the candidates, the first question goes to governor dukakis. You have two minutes to respond. Governor, if Kitty Dukakis were raped and murdered, would you favor an irrevocable Death Penalty for the killer . No, i dont. I think you know i opposed the Death Penalty during all of my life. I dont see any evidence that its a deterrent. I think there are per and more effective ways to deal with violent crime. We have down so in my own state. Its one of the reasons why we have had the biggest drop in crime of any industrial state in america, why we have the lowest murder rate in any industrial state in america. But we have work to do this nation. W
Cspan3, created by americas Cable Television companies as a Public Service and brought to you today by your television provider. Were 4 trillion in debt. Were going into debt on an additional 1 billion every working day of the year. As we sit here tonight, we will go into debt an additional 50 million in an hour and a half. Its not the republicans fault, of course, and its not the democrats fault, and what im looking for is who did it. Now, theyre the two folks involved, so maybe if you put them together, they did it. The facts are, we have to fix it. Somewhere out there there is an extraterrestrial doing this to us, i guess. Everybody said they will take responsibility. Someone somewhere has to take responsibility for this. That was independent candidate ross perot during three separate debates in 1992 talking about one of his favorite issues, the u. S. Debt. In that election the texas businessman won 90 of the popular vote, the largest vote for an independent candidate since. Thanks
In 1988 republican Vice President ial candidate dan quayle and democratic Vice President ial candidate Lloyd Bentsen debated in omaha, nebraska. A panel of four journalists asked questions of the candidate. Good evening. On behalf of the commission on president ial debates, im pleased to welcome you to this Vice President ial debate. Im Judy Woodruff of pbss Mcneil Newshour and frontline. My colleagues are John Margolis of chicago tribune, tom brokaw of nbc news and brit hume of abc news. The importance of tonights debate is underscored by two facts, both george bush and Michael Dukakis said their selections of a running mate would reveal a lot about themselves. Based on the history since world war ii, there is almost a 50 50 chance one of the two men herep to t tonight will welcome president of the United States. The candidates are senator dan quayle, the republican nominee, and senator Lloyd Bentsen, the democratic nominee. For the next 90 minutes we will be questioning the candidate
President ial debates. Im hale bruno from abc news and i will be moderating. The participants are dan quayle. [ applause ] democratic senator al gore. And retired vice admiral james stockdale. He is with the independent candidate ross perot. Now the ground rules for fonts debate, each can dlat have two plnts for an opening. This will be followed by a five minute constitution neither which they can ask questions of each other if they so choose. The order of response has been determined by a drawing. Our radio and tv audience should know they were given an equal allocation of seats for supporters. So could the audience please refrain from applause once the debate is under way been that plea from your moderator, lets get started. Good evening, its great to be here in atlanta for this debate where america will be showcased to the world. It is appropriate because in a real sense our constitution this evening will be about what kind of a nation we want to be four years from now. Its a pleasu