I don't remember the Gore debates

[LittleClarkie]

But I don't get the sense that people were as stoked after his debates with Bush as we are now. True?

Was the media spin about the same though? Is there still a chance they can put a Gore-ish skew on this and make Bush come out as even having held his own in the debate, thereby winning his war of low expectations?

My spider sense says no, but I want your opinions, esp. those who were paying attention in 2000.

[donco6]

1. I thought Gore won those debates handily.

But I didn't stay up all night after them, either. I haven't been able to sleep at all - just too pumped up.

[tishaLA]

2. I'm in the same boat

I'm just hyped and I want to watch this ass whooping evolve in the press

[LittleClarkie]

5. I expect election night to be like that too

no sleep at all. That's why I took Wednesday off. i'll need to collapse.

[donco6]

10. Me too.

Honestly, I'm sitting here waiting to hear my paper plop on the porch.

[LittleClarkie]

3. I've been like that for three days

I should be in bed now, considering how much sleep I haven't been getting.

So I wonder if I can make it all the way to the election on three hours a night.

[donco6]

9. Ha! I'm debating whether I should try to get an hour . . .

. . . or just crank up the coffeepot.

[Ruffhowse]

4. I think Kerry has a distinct advantage over Gore in his style. In the

debates in 2000, Gore had a tendency to sound preachy that was a real turn off to a lot of voters, even though he had all the right answers. Kerry, on the other hand, came off just as authoritative, but without the preachy side to him. I think this is going to make a HUGE difference to folks. It allows Kerry to be very presidential without being preachy, a big improvement over Gore.

[BootinUp]

6. Gore was not liked, it was a personality thing

Gore was far far and away the smarter more knowledgable man for the job, and he showed that. But the other side smeared him as a wierdo, wildly distorting his statements during the campaign. By doing that, they got Americans to pay more attention to his mannerisms than to the issues. Also, Bush bought the election with his huge tax cut plan.

[ItsTheMediaStupid]

7. Gore's body language and facial expressions killed him

As for the content of the debates, he cleaned *'s clock, but looked like a conceited asshole doing it.

JFK on the other hand seemed to maintain a respectful tone and posture while ripping *'s guts out. That's why JFK did so well with undecided voters in the post debate polling.

[union_maid]

8. Gore won on substance

No, I don't recall anyone being stoked. No question that Gore won on actual points. However his demeanor wasn't good. There was the famous sighing - justified, mind you, but not good television. And there was one where they made him up to resemble Ronald Reagan. It was striking. You couldn't miss it. It was bizarre. Gore is an intelligent and articulate person, but when he's speaking in public his style is somewhat goofy - probably in an effort not to come off as wooden. Kerry's peformance was nothing like Gore's. The Republicans will take a couple of statements, distort them and try to make something of them, but this isn't going to have the same effect. Kerry did what he needed to do and they're not going be able to change that.

[Heath.Hunnicutt]

11. I told my friends Gore lost a few minutes into the second debate

During the handshake. I remember they were standing on something like a big circular rug, and Gore seemed to menace Bush. I saw it, and I heard journalists comment on it. It was actually kind of an unfortuante choice on the part of Gore.

I didn't see Kerry make a single unfortunate mistake during the debate tonight. Little slip-ups of live TV in front of the whole world, sure, but nothing ridiculous.

[VOX]

12. Gore did great in the third and final debate...

The first one, he was too amped up.
The second, he acted like he was deliberately holding back.
The third, he rocked.

But by then, opportunity had come and gone.

[bklyncowgirl]

13. Gore won on substance but lost on style

Kerry clearly came off better on both style and substance.