[Antonia is hardly indicative of Yanqui pundits, but she is very representative of Canadian females in politics and media analysis. May be why a Democrat would not have lost an election here since FDR.]
Kerry outscores Bush, but misses KO ANTONIA ZERBISIAS TORONTO STAR Oct. 9, 2004 U.S. President George W. Bush was up. Then he was down. Then up. Then down. And then he spun around. He bobbed, he weaved, he ducked and he covered. But despite his fancy footwork, his eager-beaver approach, and his playing to the back row, he never seemed to connect with the 140 citizens participating in last night's town-hall-style debate with Democratic contender John F. Kerry. He couldn't even call them by name. Instead, it was Kerry who would respond directly to each and every questioner, saying "Nikki, that's a question that's been raised by a lot of people around the country," and "Randee, you're absolutely correct, it is a threat, it's a huge threat" and, later, "To go back to your question, Nikki ..." A practised politician with many campaigns under his belt, Kerry knows how to play to the crowd. And last night's crowd included the tens of millions sitting in their living rooms, each and every one of whom he eyeballed whenever he looked into the lens. But not Bush. If he picked up on the name of any one of the 18 participants selected by ABC news personality Charles Gibson to ask a question during the 97-minute forum, I didn't catch it. And he never seemed to be looking at the right place at the right time. Sure he projected — and projected — energy as he would leap off his stool and enthuse, as he did at least once, "Let me just — I've got to answer this!" But television is an intimate medium: Even when you're speaking to a large audience in a university gymnasium, as Bush and Kerry were last night, you have to remember that you're in the TV viewer's face, up close and personal. So Bush, who has spent the better part of the last year campaigning to large, pre-selected and friendly crowds in large arenas, and not to TV viewers via primetime news conferences, overplayed his hand. He also struggled to maintain his composure, avoiding the petulant faces he made during last Thursday's debate in Florida. Despite some blinking, he mostly succeeded — and even managed to get off a joke about it. At one point he jumped up to rebut Kerry with "That answer almost made me want to scowl." If either man blew it in the mugging department, it was Kerry. He could not prevent himself from smiling wryly, even smirking, to himself a few times when Bush had the floor. That's because he knew he had him on the mat. It was Kerry who, more often than Bush, had the facts and figures — not all of them correct — at the ready, rattling off job statistics and child tax credits and the cuts to education in Missouri, where the debate took place. In comparison, Bush would reply with "I'm not telling" when asked about his next Supreme Court appointments and never named any of the mistakes he says he takes responsibility for in waging his war on Iraq. On neckties alone he lost. Bush's handlers should know, he who wears the pale blue tie hasn't a chance. Kerry, as he did in the first debate, wore a red tie. It's little things like that that make the impression. Not that there was much colour in the audience. The undecideds were decidedly white. Some of them seemed quite passionate about their issues but the format did not allow for anything more than their simple questions. No exchange, no follow-ups or off with their mikes. Because the questions came from them and not from Gibson, whose desk was reminiscent of a Bombay Company sewing machine table, he played more emcee than anything else. There will be no blogger attacks in the aftermath on his objectivity, as there were with PBS anchor Jim Lehrer's efforts last week. The in-the-round set was awkward, making those revealing two-shots all but impossible. The candidates kept crossing each other, blocking them from the audience view. Kerry even stepped in front of Gibson's teleprompter towards the end, leaving him to stretch his neck to read his script. To belabour the boxing metaphor, there was no knockout punch. Bush got a few licks in, especially on manufacturing and even, incredibly, on the environment. He stayed on message, attacking Kerry's record more than defending his own. He also managed to avoid any question about his military service. It's hard to believe that none of the 140 people there wanted to ask. In the end though, Kerry outscored Bush. So the incumbent president may be down again, but he sure isn't out yet.
