Vice President Al Gore and Texas Governor George W. Bush square off in their second presidential debate Wednesday, hoping to tip the roughly even polls in their favor, reported (AFP)
Less than a month before they go to the mat November 7, both men will try to disprove the latest digs from their rivals; Gore that he exaggerates the truth and Bush that he is an intellectual lightweight.
Foreign policy may be a more prominent issue when the Democratic vice president and his Republican rival sit down at a debating table for 90 minutes in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
Fast-paced developments in the Middle East and Yugoslavia have captured more attention in the United States since the first presidential debate on October 3.
Opinion polls have swung back and forth since then, with the latest surveys putting them roughly even.
A Washington Post-ABC News poll conducted October 6-9 put Bush ahead by 48 to 45 percent, while the latest CNN/USA Today/Gallup gave Bush a 47-44 percent advantage.
Since both polls have margins of error of plus or minus three points, the candidates are in effect neck and neck.
The rivals have been secluded with their closest advisors preparing for the debate.
Both candidates have been unstinting in their long-range attacks -- Gore from Sarasota, Florida and Bush from his family ranch in Texas, from where he embarked on a campaign swing through Gore's home state of Tennessee Tuesday on the way to Winston-Salem.
The Democrats have fixed their sights on Bush's record as a two-term governor of Texas, saying he has done nothing to stop pollution or help the poor in terms of medical care and social benefits.
The Republicans meanwhile accuse Gore's campaign of distorting the governor's record in the state and engaging in personal attacks on Bush by questioning his fitness for the highest office.
The new tone of aggression entered the race soon after the first debate in Boston last week, which Gore dominated.
But Gore had since been slipping in the polls, since voters were apparently turned off by allegations that Gore -- already the butt of jokes for saying he invented the Internet -- has told a few other tall tales as well.
In his first debate, Gore said he visited a part of Texas ravaged by floods with Federal Emergency Management Agency James Lee Witt in 1996. The visit took place two years later and Witt did not accompany him.
Gore also told the story of a Florida schoolgirl who had to stand in class because there was no place for her to sit in an overcrowded classroom. A CNN television crew later found the problem had been resolved after one day.
Gore "did better as a debater, and apparently that is not necessarily what the American people are looking for in a president," said Steve Hess of the Washington-based Brookings Institution.
In contrast to the Boston debate, when the candidates were behind lecterns, Gore and Bush will be seated at a desk this time with moderator Jim Lehrer in a more informal setting.
"Bush may be advantaged by the more informal format in the second debate," said Hess, but the questions may be more difficult.
With the Middle East and Yugoslavia dominating the news, foreign affairs which rarely impinged on the first debate could be central this time, the analyst said.
"There would be more questioning and more commenting on international relations, which is certainly Gore's strong point. We're going to see him as a much more experienced person in that regard," Hess added.
The candidates are expected to clash as before on taxes, health care and education as well as how best to spend the growing US budget surplus.
A third and final presidential debate is scheduled for St. Louis, Missouri, on October 17 – (AFP)
© 2000 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
