Tribune, tom brokaw of nbc, 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. And based on the history since world war ii, there is almost a 5050 chance that one of the two men here tonight will become president of the United States. The candidates are senator dan quayle, the republican nominee, and senator Lloyd Bentsen, the democratic nominee. [applause] Judy Woodruff 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 on the questions that my colleagues and i may ask this evening. By prior agreement between the two candidates, the first question goes to senator quayle, and you have two minutes to respond. Senator, you have been criticized, as we all know, for your decision to stay out of the vietnam war,
Good evening from the civic center in philadelphia, pennsylvania. I am dorothy ridings, president the legal woman voters. Sponsor of the Vice President ial debate between republican george bush and democrat gerald dean perot. Our panelists tonight are john mashek, National Correspondent for u. S. News and world report, jack white, correspondent for time magazine, Norma Quarles, a correspondent for nbc news, and robert boyd, Washington Bureau chief for night bitter newspapers. Sander vanocur, senior corps responded for abc news is our moderator. Thank you dorothy. A few thing about the order of the format tonight. At the order of questioning was determined by a toss of the coin. Congresswoman ferraro one, she wants to speak last. Vice president bush will get the first question. The debate will be built on a series of questions from the reporters on the panel. A reporter will ask a candidate question. A followup question. And then the same to the other candidate. Each candidate will get
Facts. Both george bush. And Michael Dukakis. Said their selections of a running mate. Would reveal a lot about themselves. And based on the history since world war two. There is almost a fifty fifty chance that one of the two men here tonight. Will become president of the United States. The candidates are. Senator dan quayle the republican nominee. And senatorfor the next ninety minutes will be questioning the candidates following a format designed and agreed to by representatives of the two campaigns. However there are no restrictions on the questions that my colleagues and i may ask deceiving. By prior agreement between the two candidates the first question goes to senator quayle. And you have two minutes to respond. Senator you have been criticized as we all know for your decision to stay out of the vietnam war. Or your poor academic record. But more troubling to some of the comments that have been made by people in your own party just lastly former secretary of state said that you
Nominee. 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 on 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 gov. Dukakis. You have two minutes to respond. Governor, if Kitty Dukakis were raped and murdered, would you favor an irrevocable Death Penalty for he killer . No, i dont, bernard. And i think you know that ive opposed the Death Penalty during all of my life. I dont see any evidence that its a deterrent, and i think there are better and more effective ways to deal with violent crime. Weve done so in my own state. And 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 of any industrial state in america. But we have work to
Judy woodruff on behalf of the commission on president ial debates, i am pleased to welcome you to this Vice President ial debate. Im Judy Woodruff of pbs macneillehrer news hour and frontline. My colleagues on the panel are John Margolis of the 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. And based on the history since world war ii, there is almost a 5050 chance that one of the two men here tonight will become president of the United States. The candidates are senator dan quayle, the republican nominee, and senator Lloyd Bentsen, the democratic nominee. [applause] Judy Woodruff 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 on the questions that my colleagu