The Importance of Debate in the 2004 Presidential Election

The President can take credit for his successes during the upcoming debates and basically promise more of the same success, whether or not he intends to come through on such a promise. The Senator has the disadvantage of having to explain himself convincingly to the entire population of likely and eligible voters in the next forty or so days while the President has had the benefit of being on the nightly news for the past four years.

In this election, debates will absolutely focus on mannerisms and behavior while on live television rather than canned or predictable rhetoric. Whoever looks discontented, as some critics argue President Bush looked on Thursday, may not have much of a chance to win over new voters. The entire election has been so close according to polls that even notoriously Democratic states such as New Jersey are up in the air.

Due to the dead heat nature, the nitpicking on the debates may result in the winner of the election. Given the result of the 2000 presidential election, it is highly unlikely that we will see a tortuous recount in any state, even Florida considering former President Carter's recent condemnation. We may see results in individual states separated by one or two percentage points but we will probably not see the general election outcome decided by a court of any kind.

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