2004 United States presidential debates

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2004 United States presidential debates

← 2000 September 30 – October 13, 2004 2008 →

Nominee George W. Bush John Kerry Party Republican Democratic Home state Texas Massachusetts Running mate Richard B. Cheney John Edwards

The United States presidential election debates were held in the

(CPD), which has organized presidential debates since its establishment in 1987.

The vice presidential debate was held on October 5 at

moderators

and debate formats were used in each debate.

An alternative was proposed by the

.

Post-debate polls generally suggested that the 2004 presidential debates were a positive factor for John Kerry's candidacy, as CNN/USA Today/Gallup immediate post-debate polls showed that Kerry clearly won the first and third debates in the eyes of the American television audience, and he tied with Bush in the second. In the follow-up polls taken days after the first two debates, Kerry's perceived positive performance in the debates increased, so that the public then saw Kerry, rather than Bush, as the winner of all three debates.[1]

Participant selection

According to the Commission on Presidential Debates, the predetermined criteria for selecting candidates to participate in its 2004 presidential debates are based on evidence of eligibility as defined in Article Two of the United States Constitution), evidence of ballot access, and evidence of electoral support based on national public opinion polls.

Participants must have appeared on enough state ballots to have at least a mathematical chance of securing the

. The criteria also specified that invitations to the CPD's vice-presidential debate would be extended to the running mates of the candidates participating in the first presidential debate.

Only President George W. Bush and U.S. Senator John Kerry met the CPD selection criteria for any of the presidential debates. As a result, only Vice President Dick Cheney and Senator John Edwards met the criteria for the vice presidential debate.

On October 1, 2004, the

prohibition on making gifts or donations to individuals or corporations."

Superior Court Judge F. Pendleton Gaines III issued an

rights.

The Arizona debate nonetheless proceeded on October 13.

On October 8, at the second debate at

Presidential debates memorandum of understanding

A

Kerry 2004 campaign

, covering in minute detail all aspects of the presidential candidate debates held between the two candidates was created. It was 32 pages long and dated September 20, 2004.

The

Debate schedule

2004 United States presidential election debates
No.	Date & Time	Host	Location	Moderator	Participants
Key:  P  Participant.     N  Non-invitee.					Republican	Democratic
					President George W. Bush of Texas	Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts
1	Thursday, September 30, 2004, 9:00 – 10:30 p.m. EDT[6]	University of Miami	Coral Gables, Florida	Jim Lehrer of PBS	P	P
2	Friday, October 8, 2004, 9:00 – 10:30 p.m. EDT[6]	Washington University in St. Louis	St. Louis, Missouri	Charles Gibson of ABC	P	P
3	Wednesday, October 13, 2004, 9:00 – 10:30 p.m. EDT[6]	Arizona State University	Tempe, Arizona	Bob Schieffer of CBS	P	P
2004 United States vice presidential debate
No.	Date & Time	Host	Location	Moderator	Participants
Key:  P  Participant.     N  Non-invitee.					Republican	Democratic
					Vice President Dick Cheney of Wyoming	Senator John Edwards of North Carolina
VP	Tuesday, October 5, 2004, 9:00 – 10:30 p.m. EDT[6]	Case Western Reserve University	Cleveland, Ohio	Gwen Ifill of PBS	P	P

Originally, the CPD specified that the first debate would be focused on domestic policy and the third focused on foreign policy. Those terms were changed in an announcement by the CPD on September 24, after it had reviewed the terms of the MOU. The CPD agreed that foreign affairs and homeland security would be the primary topic for the first debate and domestic and economic policy will be the primary topic of the third debate. More broadly, it also agreed to make a "good faith effort" to accommodate the rest of the terms of the MOU.

The September 24 announcement, which was released in the format of a copy of a letter sent to the two campaigns, also noted CPD's pleasure at the willingness of the two campaigns to participate in the second, "town meeting"-style debate, yet was ambiguous about just what had been agreed to.

Originally, the CPD had announced that questions for the second debate would come from undecided voters selected by the

of Gallup in order to resolve any open issues. One such issue was that the MOU specified that half the questions be asked by "soft Kerry supporters" and half by "soft Bush supporters," though what is meant by those terms was not made clear.

Format

For 2004, each debate lasted ninety minutes, included a live audience, had no opening statements, could have included follow-up questions from the moderator and ended with closing statements of two minutes.

September 30: First presidential debate (University of Miami)

First presidential debate
Date(s)	September 30, 2004 (2004-09-30)
Venue	University of Miami
Location	Coral Gables, Florida
Participants	George W. Bush John Kerry
Footage	PBS
Moderator(s)	Jim Lehrer of PBS

The debate was held in the Convocation Center of the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida.

posed nine questions for each candidate.

Video stream

• RealPlayer video stream of the debate from the BBC website
• Video and stream of the debate from the Internet Archive

Post-debate poll

62.5 million people tuned into the debates, an increase of just over 35 percent from 2000.

Controversies

Bush's suit bulge

A bulge in the back of Bush's suit jacket during this debate triggered rumors that he was "wired" with a radio receiver, presumably to receive instructions from his strategists.^[7] Contributing to the rumors was the perception that, at one point, Bush stated "Let me finish" in response to no apparent interruption and when he still had time on the clock, and some long pauses by Bush before he began answering a question. Others dismissed these accusations, saying that the "Let me finish" was a response to a gesture that Lehrer made, and the pauses were a result of Bush gathering his thoughts before responding.

White House officials initially claimed that the bulge was a "wrinkle in the fabric," and that Bush was not wearing a

In 2020, NBC News referred to the 2004 microphone earpiece allegations as a "conspiracy theory" and likened the allegations to unfounded right-wing claims that Hillary Clinton wore a microphone in a 2016 debate, or that Joe Biden wore an earpiece in a 2020 debate.^[9]

"You forgot Poland"

During the debate John Kerry accused Bush of having failed to gain international support for the 2003 invasion of Iraq, saying "... when we went in, there were three countries: Great Britain, Australia and the United States. That's not a grand coalition. We can do better." Bush, who had used Poland earlier in the debate as an example of the international presence in Iraq, replied by saying "Well, actually, he forgot Poland. And now there's 30 nations involved, standing side by side with our American troops."^[10] Paraphrased as "You forgot Poland", the term became a popular catchphrase among Bush detractors, who saw it as a humorously petty rebuttal of Kerry's original point.

Bush facial expressions

During the debate, Bush made facial expressions which were later described as negative. Democrats highlighted these facial expressions after the debate, claiming that Bush was annoyed during the debate.^[11]

October 5: Vice presidential debate (Case Western Reserve University)

Vice presidential debate
Date(s)	October 5, 2004 (2004-10-05)
Venue	Case Western Reserve University
Location	Cleveland, Ohio
Participants	Dick Cheney John Edwards
Footage	PBS
Moderator(s)	Gwen Ifill of PBS

2004 Vice-Presidential debate

← 2000 October 5, 2004 2008 →

Nominee Dick Cheney John Edwards Party Republican Democratic Home state Wyoming North Carolina

Venue

The only vice presidential debate between Dick Cheney and John Edwards was held at the Veale Center at

. The debate attracted a large audience, as 43.6 million people tuned in, nearly as many as had watched the presidential debates from 2000.

Moderator

posed a total of 20 questions to the candidates.

Video stream

• RealPlayer video stream of the debate from the BBC website
• Video and stream of the debate from the Internet Archive

Notable exchanges

Though the debate largely focused on the

Post-debate poll

CBS News interviewed a nationally representative sample of 178 uncommitted debate-watchers. The sample was of voters who are either undecided about whom to vote for or who have a weak preference that could be changed. Of the group 41 percent said Edwards won the debate, 28 said Cheney won, and 31 percent thought it was a tie. Both uncommitted men and uncommitted women preferred Edwards.^[15] A separate poll of 1000 likely voters found that 43 percent believed Cheney won while 37 percent felt Edwards did better. Moreover, after the debate 47 percent said that Cheney was "very qualified" to assume the responsibilities of president (a seven percent rise), while only 25 percent said the same of Edwards (no change).^[16]

October 8: Second presidential debate (Washington University in St. Louis)

Second presidential debate
Date(s)	October 8, 2004 (2004-10-08)
Venue	Washington University in St. Louis
Location	St. Louis, Missouri
Participants	George W. Bush John Kerry
Footage	PBS
Moderator(s)	Charles Gibson of ABC

Venue

The debate was held at

mediated the town hall session, which consisted of prospective voters reading questions preselected by Gibson to the candidates.

Video stream

• RealPlayer video stream of the debate from the BBC website
• Video and stream of the debate from the Internet Archive

Analysis

Bush attempted to deflect criticism of what was described as his scowling demeanor during the first debate, joking at one point about one of Kerry's remarks, "That answer almost made me want to scowl".^[17]

When asked about possible appointments to the

October 13: Third presidential debate (Arizona State University)

Third presidential debate
Date(s)	October 13, 2004 (2004-10-13)
Venue	Arizona State University
Location	Tempe, Arizona
Participants	George W. Bush John Kerry
Footage	PBS
Moderator(s)	Bob Schieffer of CBS

Venue

The final debate was held in the

Moderator Bob Schieffer of CBS News posed 20 total questions to the candidates.

Third-party candidate debates

• January 29 — Former
  Green Party presidential nomination candidate and independent vice-presidential candidate Peter Camejo debated Normon Solomon at the Crest Theatre in downtown Sacramento, regarding what direction the Green Party should take in 2004. Camejo supported Ralph Nader, even as an independent candidate, and hoped that Nader could be persuaded to run with the Green Party. Solomon said that Nader should not run, and that the Greens should work to defeat George W. Bush. The debate was a benefit for listener-sponsored KVMR
  .
• August 31 —
  Center for Voting and Democracy, and Walter Kane, a reporter for Channel 12 News. C-SPAN
  televised the debate on September 6.
• September 30 —
  Pacifica Radio
  , and broadcast later by PBS Television.
• October 6 —
  Green), and Michael Peroutka (Constitution) debated at 8 p.m. at Cornell University
  in Ithaca, New York. The format of this event was similar to that of the September 30 debate: opening statements, questions from the audience, and closing statements. However, the debate was slightly shorter than the prior two third-party debates, at about 80 minutes total. Time was split between four candidates rather than two, and most of the questions came from Cornell undergraduate and graduate students.
• October 7 — Vice-Presidential debate conducted by
  Libertarian
  ).
• October 7 —
  Green) at the University of Texas at Austin
  at 11:30 a.m.
• October 15 —
  Charles Jay (Personal Choice Party), Gary Nolan (radio host) standing in for Michael Badnarik (Libertarian), former presidential candidate Deirdre Griswold standing in for John Parker (Workers World Party), former presidential candidate Jerry White^{[clarification needed]} standing in for Bill Van Auken (Socialist Equality Party) at East Tennessee State University
  . The debate was released on DVD.

References

1. ^ Saad, Lydia (October 15, 2004). "Do Debates Affect Presidential Contests?". Gallup. Retrieved March 26, 2018.
2. ^ [1] Archived February 20, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
3. ^ "Debates-2008 Presidential Campaign". Gwu.edu. Retrieved May 24, 2010.
4. ^ "Libertarians Win a Hearing in Debate Case - October 11, 2004 - The New York Sun". Nysun.com. Retrieved May 24, 2010.
5. ISBN 1-58322-665-6
   .
6. ^ ^{a b c d} "CPD: 2004 Debates". www.debates.org. Retrieved October 5, 2020.
7. ^ "Americas | Bush's bulge stirs media rumours". BBC News. October 9, 2004. Retrieved May 24, 2010.
8. ^ [2] Archived April 8, 2005, at the Wayback Machine
9. ^ Collins, Ben (2020). "Coordinated push of groundless conspiracy theories targets Biden hours before debate". NBC News. Retrieved October 2, 2020.
10. ^ "Transcript of the first Bush-Kerry presidential debate". Commission on Presidential Debates. September 30, 2004. Archived from the original on October 13, 2006. Retrieved December 7, 2006.
11. ^ "PUNDITS POUNCE ON BUSH'S SCOWLS". Orlando Sentinel. October 2, 2004. Retrieved February 18, 2024.
12. ^ "Cheney, Edwards Trade Barbs at VP Debate". Fox News. March 25, 2015. Retrieved August 30, 2017.
13. ^ Kaiser, Robert. "Vice Presidential Debate Analysis". Washington Post. Retrieved August 30, 2017.
14. ^ "Full Transcript of the Debate Between the Vice Presidential Candidates in Cleveland". New York Times. October 5, 2004. Retrieved August 30, 2017.
15. ^ Bootie Cosgrove-Mather (October 5, 2004). "Uncommitteds Tab Edwards Winner". CBS News. Retrieved May 24, 2010.
16. ^ "Voters Say Cheney Won Debate, Is More Qualified - Rasmussen Reports". Rasmussenreports.com. Archived from the original on May 12, 2006. Retrieved May 24, 2010.
17. ^ Fornek, Scott (October 9, 2004). "Bush, Kerry make draft, tax pledges". Chicago Sun-Times. Digital Chicago. Archived from the original on October 12, 2004.
18. ^ Noah, Timothy (October 11, 2004). "Why Bush opposes Dred Scott. - By Timothy Noah - Slate Magazine". Slate.msn.com. Archived from the original on July 6, 2009. Retrieved May 24, 2010.
19. ^ "Bush, Kerry battle at Tempe presidential debate | EastValleyTribune.com". Archived from the original on August 28, 2006. Retrieved May 25, 2006.

External links

• Commission on Presidential Debates
• Citizens' Debate Commission
• Open Debates Archived January 3, 2017, at the Wayback Machine
• The Appleseed Citizens' Task Force on Fair Debates
• C-SPAN page on presidential debates
• Copy of the 2004 MOU, in
  PDF format from the Open Debates
  website
• List of documents from Open Debates website, with links to MOUs for the
  1996
  debates
• Factcheck: first debate second debate third debate
• Debate on the state of elections between Howard Dean and Ralph Nader, sponsored by Justice Talking