Thursday, Oct. 12, 2000 | 11:23 a.m.
WASHINGTON -- Undecided Nevada voter Scott Ginger still hasn't chosen a candidate after Wednesday night's presidential debate between Al Gore and George W. Bush.
Bush had the edge on military issues, Ginger said, but Gore won on the environment.
The man who emerges as the education candidate will win his vote, said Ginger, the debate coach at Green Valley High School. So far both are simply tossing "standardized testing" around as a catch phrase and they talk about new teachers, not retaining teachers, he said.
"To me it's like they are saying, 'There's a leak in the pool, let's just keep filling it up with water,' " Ginger said.
Gore won the debate according to the traditional rules of debating, Ginger said.
"Gore tends to narrow the focus of his responses better than Bush," Ginger said. "Bush generalizes and uses that as a springboard to other issues."
But Bush was relaxed in the around-the-table format and leapt on foreign policy issues in a believable attempt to demonstrate his knowledge, Ginger said.
"I think Bush had been told to come out of the gate on that issue, and so he made it a priority," Ginger said.
Several Nevada observers said Gore scored his points by hammering away at Bush's record on the environment and health care in Texas. Gore likely will continue criticizing Bush's record in the weeks before the election, said UNLV political science professor Ted Jelen.
Bush's failure to respond to the barbs will resonate in the same way Gore's alleged exaggerating in the first debate hurt him.
"Gore's comments about Texas went essentially unrebutted," Jelen said.
Jelen said Bush seemed more comfortable, and Gore was more self-conscious in the second go-round. Bush came off as more likeable; Gore still appears more knowledgeable, Jelen said.
"Bush wins the swimsuit contest while Gore scores well in the current events test," Jelen said.
Nevada's Democrats in Congress praised their candidate. Bush appeared credible, if not quite at Gore's level, in the first half of the debate on foreign policy, said Sen. Richard Bryan, D-Nev.
"The second half of the debate was all Gore," Bryan said. "The Texas record is abysmal. The governor did not deny the statistics the vice president used. If past is prologue, I think the governor's record is very relevant."
Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., shrugged off the notion that Gore was less aggressive in the second debate. He said the media is overly critical of Gore's mannerisms.
"He answered the questions, he didn't interrupt," Reid said. "I thought he looked very presidential."
Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., said Bush defended himself against statistics that put Texas at the bottom of a list of children without health insurance. Bush appropriately noted the number of children with health insurance is rising in Texas, but the rate is worse nationwide.
"I absolutely believe George Bush set the record straight on Texas," Gibbons said. "I don't think Al Gore scored any points at all."
Bush can win over undecided voters by continuing to stress tax cuts that reach all Americans, a strong military, Medicare reform and protecting social security, Gibbons said.
So far the presidential debates are having far less impact deciding the election than many had thought, said one national expert on elections and voting behavior.
"Last night there were no mistakes, no sound bites," said David Magleby, political science professor at Brigham Young University. "I don't think there was a knockout punch. I don't even think one of them gave the other a bloody nose."
Still, Magleby said Bush would be euphoric today.
"He did feel more comfortable, that was obvious," Magleby said. "Gore has to regroup and decide which persona he wants to present."
Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., said the final debate next week will be telling now that Gore has shown himself to be a "warmer, friendlier human being," and Bush has shown more command of the issues.
"The third debate will showcase both candidates at their best," she said.
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