NYT: In Battle for No. 2 Spot, Focus Remains at the Top

[kskiska]

(snip)

With the stakes so high, Mr. Cheney is spending a long weekend preparing at his home in Jackson, Wyo., where aides have assembled a mock-up of the debate setting. Mr. Cheney has been practicing with Representative Rob Portman, Republican of Ohio, playing the part of Mr. Edwards.

(snip)

Mr. Edwards, who faces the first one-on-one televised debate of his career, is at a resort in Chautauqua, N.Y., with his family and staff. He has been facing off against Robert Barnett, a prominent Washington lawyer who has been playing the part of Mr. Cheney. Like the successful courtroom lawyer that he was, Mr. Edwards is spending lots of time boning up on his case by reading about policy, consulting an array of advisers and researchers and reviewing Mr. Cheney's record and past statements on foreign and domestic affairs.

To clear his head, his campaign manager, Peter Scher, said, he has been taking his ritual runs of four to six miles each day.

Strategists on both sides say the format - both men seated at a table with the moderator, Gwen Ifill of PBS - plays to Mr. Cheney's strengths. When Mr. Lieberman's team studied Mr. Cheney before their debate in 2000, they concluded that Mr. Cheney, never an exuberant presence, was not a great communicator from behind a lectern in front of a big audience, but was very strong in more conversational settings like Sunday morning news programs, where he came across as strong and focused.

Mr. Edwards's advisers said that he had chafed at the format, preferring a more open setting that would allow him to use his stage skills to his advantage, but that the campaign relented because it believed fighting that point might have damaged negotiations to get Mr. Kerry three debates with President Bush instead of two.

more…
http://nytimes.com/2004/10/04/politics/campaign/04veep.html

[pfitz59]

1. Sitting down to debate?

What a crock! Probably to hide the power cord to Dickie's pacemaker!

[kskiska]

2. Wouldn't it be great if Dickie told Edwards to go f**k himself?

Still, Mr. Cheney's aides say they expect Mr. Edwards to come at him aggressively, seeking to get under his skin the same way Mr. Kerry did with Mr. Bush.

[Longhorn]

3. At least Sen. Edwards doesn't have to worry about anyone feeling

sorry for Cheney when he whoops his ass. I honestly believe Sen. Kerry had to be careful not to go too far with Bush* in case he helped him pick up a sympathy vote!

[muriel_volestrangler]

4. A Cheney adviser said:

"Cheney will bring 9/11 back into the discussion in a very significant way, which was something that somehow seemed left out of the discussion on Thursday night."

Well, Bush left it out - because he's done so little to fix up security since. Kerry was willing to talk about money for first responders, and tightening up port security. If Cheney brings it up again, he runs the risk of reminding people that for two and a half years, the Republicans' focus has been on a country that was no threat to the USA - just to Halliburton's profits. So what will the 'security moms' think about that?