On Sept. 30, President George W. Bush and Senator John Kerry (D – Mass.) met at the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Fla. for the first of three presidential debates.
The debate, moderated by PBS news anchor Jim Lehrer, followed a strict point-counterpoint format.
Lehrer alternately asked each nominee questions, giving two minutes to respond. The other candidate then had 90 seconds for rebuttal. At Lehrer’s discretion, the first candidate could take another 30 seconds to respond.
Both candidates also delivered a two-minute closing statement at the end of the debate.
“I think it would have been better if they could have spoken to each other, but maybe they got more issues out of the way,” first-year Eliza Heller said.
The debate questions specific-ally addressed foreign policy and Homeland Security. The key issues that drove the debate were the conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Bush asserted that Kerry has been indecisive, and that the senator’s “mixed messages” to U.S. troops and citizens as well as other nations would destroy the war effort.
Kerry argued that Bush has mishandled the Iraq war, and that the United States needs a new leader with a better plan.The Democrats
Kerry attempted to shed his “flip-flop” label throughout the debate.
“I’ve had one position,” said Kerry. “One consistent position: that Saddam Hussein was a threat, that there was a right way to disarm him and a wrong way, and that the President chose the wrong way.”
Kerry also said Bush has underestimated the anti-American resolve present in Iraq, as well as the funds, number of troops, and amount of time necessary to rebuild Iraq. He also accused Bush of unwisely shifting attention away from Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan to Saddam Hussein in Iraq.
“I made a mistake in how I talked about the war, but the President made a mistake in invading Iraq – which is worse?” he asked.
Kerry ultimately tried to undermine the accusations of “flip-flopping” by shedding new light on the issue.
“It’s one thing to be certain, but you can be certain and be wrong,” the senator asserted.
First-year Malcolm Kent said he believed Kerry was successful.
“Kerry did a good job refuting the flip-flop issue,” he said.
Robert Duncan, an assistant professor of political science at the college, said Kerry was “the more articulate, the more thoughtful, the more reasoned (candidate).”
He added, “I guess I’m what you might call a yellow dog Democrat. I’d vote for a yellow dog before I’d vote for (Bush).”

The Republicans
Many Republicans praised Bush for displaying determination and resolve.
“The President showed the American people both his heart and his great strength,” Karen Hughes, former special advisor to Bush, said in a post-debate interview with NBC.
Bush was “confident and consistent in the goal of staying in Iraq and finishing the mission,” Josh Jones, a student at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, told NBC. “Bush’s plan is a bit stronger, and is already in place.”
Bush argued that his plan for Iraq is correct, and that it is crucial for the United States to say on the offensive and be unwavering in its resolve. He continuously returned to accusations that Kerry is a “flip-flopper” whose mixed messages will ruin the United States’s efforts in Iraq.
“We are there for a purpose, and John Kerry totally negates that purpose,” former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani said on NBC. “It really is a horrible message that John Kerry sends that this is the wrong war in the wrong place at the wrong time to men and women who are fighting this war.”
Hughes insisted that Kerry had failed to solidify his positions, and to convince viewers that he is reliable.
“No only did he fail to do that, I think he made his predicament even worse,” she said.

Final thoughts
“I have a plan for Iraq,” Kerry said in his closing statement. “I believe we can be successful. I’m not talking about leaving. I’m talking about winning. And we need a fresh start, a new credibility, a president who can bring allies to our side.”
“We’ve done a lot of hard work together over the last three-and-a-half years,” Bush countered. “We’ve been challenged, and we’ve risen to those challenges. We’ve climbed the mighty mountain. I see the valley below, and it’s a valley of peace.”
According to a Newsweek poll of 1,013 registered voters who watched the debate, Kerry won the debate and now leads Bush 49 – 46 percentage points.

This article is part of a weekly series about the upcoming presidential election.