John Kerry - Soon to be "MR. PRESIDENT" The Final Debate Round-up

Kerry’s Momentum Grew And Grows

David Gergen: "John Kerry, Sen. Kerry gained strength as the debate went on and I thought he became much more effective and if anything I thought the last part of the debate was his." [PBS, 10/13/04]
Carlos Watson: “As we went along, as we talked about social security, as we talked about immigration, as we talked even about the Supreme Court, I thought John Kerry ultimately found his voice. And when all is said and done I think Kerry will be proclaimed the winner, which I think will be significant because I think he will be viewed as having won all three debates.” [CNN, 10/13/04]
Dean Reynolds: “I think the candidate whose numbers have been moving in the right direction for the last 10 days has been Senator John Kerry, this debate did nothing to stop that, and I think from the Kerry point of view they’ll be happy about the results tonight.” [ABC, 10/13/04]
Anthony Mason: “Dan, the uncommitted voters in our survey have given the edge in this debate, to this final debate, to John Kerry.” [CBS, 10/13/04]


Kerry Appealed To Voters

David Gergen: "What I thought John Kerry did very effectively tonight was reach out to women voters and they've become critical to his election Charlie, its the bigggest change that's taken place since these debates started. And tonight, I would imagine with the Yankees and Red Sox on, there were probably a lot of women in that audience tonight." [PBS, 10/13/04]

"After viewing two presidential debates, a group of local independent voters has decided whom to support - and will use tonight's face-off simply to make sure they've got it right. Currently, Kerry is the pick of the majority. The Denver Post gathered the five panelists last month to view the debates. At the time, none of them had decided." [Denver Post, 10/13/04]
Seniors Weigh In For Kerry. AARP hosted a debate watch party in Las Vegas they were asked: Which presidential candidate best addressed the issues important to you? 76.2% for John Kerry, 15.1% George W. Bush, 8.7 Draw


Kerry More Presidential

Bill Schneider: “Well I think he did appear more presidential than the president, which is exactly why he won the first debate and why he won this debate.” [CNN, 10/13/04]
Richard Wolfe: “John Kerry has looked more presidential and more personable as these debates have gone on.” [CNN, 10/13/04]
Perry Bacon, Time Magazine: “And still, Kerry came out looking more presidential…” [CNN, 10/13/04]


Kerry Clear On Issues

Andrea Mitchell: “I think Kerry cleared up any confusion that might have existed about how he as a Catholic was dealing with this very complex issue [abortion].” [MSNBC, 10/13/04]
George Stephanopoulos: “I thought Senator Kerry was most effective on talking about jobs, minimum wage, healthcare and social security.” [ABC, 10/13/04]
"Kerry's answer on health-care costs may be his best yet. He lays out the case against the administration logically and clearly." [Kit Seeyle, New York Times online, 10/13/04]
"In response to the flu vaccine, Bush narrowly focuses on the question and tells people not to get a flu shot. Kerry smartly takes the topic back to health care." [Kit Seeyle, New York Times online, 10/13/04]
Chris Wallace: "I thought perhaps because of the subject matter that John Kerry did better in the second half on subjects like minimum wage which the president seemed somewhat uncomfortable on." [Fox News, 10/13/04]
Mark Shields: “I thought Kerry's best answer by far was on the assault weapons. When the President begged off, it was Bob Schieffer's question to him Jim, why didn't you, you said you'd sign it, why didn't you lift a finger to do it, he said well they told me in Congress they didn't have the votes to do it and he said I would have gone to Tom Delay, and said we're going to have a fight, we'll go to the country on this. I thought that was probably Kerry's best answer. [PBS, 10/13/04]
Chris Matthews: “Senator Kerry tonight was able to score on the class issue.” [MSNBC, 10/13/04]
Tom Brokaw: “I think that they were seeing on the war issue that John Kerry had tapped into something out there in America. That there were doubts even among the president’s supporters on the Republican side of the agenda and especially in a lot of those traditionally red states where they have a lot of people overseas and beginning to wonder if this was going well or not. So they had to move it; move the agenda, if you will, off the war and harder onto the social issues.” [MSNBC, 10/13/04]


Bush Fell, Kerry Cleaned-Up

Ron Reagan: “George Bush made a mistake. Kerry quoted him accurately as it turns out in saying he’s not really worried about Osama bin Laden and Bush came back and said, well I don’t recall ever saying anything like that, we’ll you’ll see the clip of him saying exactly that tomorrow.” [MSNBC 10:32 pm]
Mark Shields: “I think Kerry is far more factual.” [PBS, 10/13/04]
Brian Williams: “We heard the name Osama Bin Laden mentioned again tonight and tonight our fact checkers found the President in a major contradiction. Here is what the President said on stage tonight in response to a charge by Sen. Kerry [Bush clip, exaggerations]. But here is what the President said about Bin Laden in March of 2002 [Bush clip saying he is not concerned about Bin Laden]. [NBC, 10/13/04]
Chris Jansing: “He painted the president as some one who led us to a misguided war, who has put Americans at risk because they don't have health insurance, who has lost more jobs than any president.” [MSNBC, 10/13/04]
Bush Mission To Win Debate: NOT ACCOMPLISHED
George Stephanopoulos: Most Americans believe we’re going in the wrong direction right now. [ABC, 10/13/04]
Jeff Greenfield: “I think to the extent that the Republicans were looking for the president to lay the heavy lumber on John Kerry, that did not happen. And so if we’ve gone this last ten days with Kerry slowly moving up on Bush, I don’t see anything in this debate that will change that.” [CNN, 10/13/04]
John King: “I do think Republicans will agree that the president was perhaps not emphatic or focused enough in doing as much as he wanted to do to calling the Senate record into play and put the liberal label on Senator Kerry.” [CNN, 10/13/04]

Bob Novak: “Bush looks wishy-washy on the assault-weapons ban.” [cnn.com, 10/13/04]

Richard Wolfe: “John Kerry, I thought, took this one by points. The president really needed to get a big victory tonight and he fell short of that. You know, he beat himself in the previous debates, but that really wasn’t good enough.” [CNN, 10/13/04]
Bush’s Expressions Showed His Weakness "Bush seems more on edge than Kerry. His voice is rising, almost to a shout. And he pounds his hand for emphasis. Kerry is trying to show he is cool, calm and collected." [Kit Seeyle, New York Times online, 10/13/04]
Bob Novak: “Bush's chuckles are not so good.” [cnn.com, 10/13/04]
Chris Matthews: “I think the president had sort of an unhappy look but it was a very controlled and disciplined look. He was obviously told ‘they’re looking at you, don’t put on a show.’ But he didn’t look happy. He wasn’t used to this kind of brow-beating.” [MSNBC, 10/13/04]

-Posted by Ari Rabin-Havt on October 14, 2004 at 12:18 AM