Ghosts Of Debates Past

As they prepare for Tuesday's first presidential debate, Al Gore and George W. Bush are priming themselves with mock debates, briefing books and a ready list of one-liners. But it's the unscripted moments from debates past that remain the most memorable.

Start with 1960, the first campaign to feature TV debates and the benchmark for all subsequent encounters. In their first debate, a tanned and vigorous John F. Kennedy faced Richard Nixon, who looked haggard, pale and sweaty after a recent knee injury. Kennedy wore a dark suit and adequate makeup; Nixon sported a gray suit that blended into the background and used a lackluster makeup meant only to minimize his five o'clock shadow. The Massachusetts senator spoke directly to the viewers at home, while the vice president addressed JFK.

Bottom line? Democrat Kennedy looked better on TV than Republican Nixon. Those who heard that first debate on radio said either Nixon had won or that the contest was a draw. But those who saw the contest on the small screen called Kennedy the winner.

For the next three elections, no TV debates took place. In 1964, Democratic incumbent Lyndon Johnson saw little need to jeopardize his lead against Republican Barry Goldwater. In 1968 and 1972, Nixon – perhaps burned by his '60 experience – steered clear of face-to-face encounters with Hubert Humphrey and George Wallace or George McGovern.

The bicentennial year saw the rebirth of the debates. In 1976, Gerald Ford underscored his bumbling image when he asserted in one debate with Jimmy Carter, "There is no Soviet domination of Eastern Europe, and there never will be under a Ford administration." That's not what the GOP president really intended to say, but his foreign policy faux pas boosted Democrat Carter.

Four years later, Carter was the incumbent and Ronald Reagan his challenger. The far more genial and telegenic of the two, Republican Reagan blunted Carter's rhetorical jabs in their only debate with the line, "There you go again." Amid high inflation and the Iranian hostage crisis, another Reagan line from that encounter found its way into the history books: "Are you better off than you were four years ago?"

In 1984, Reagan performed poorly in his first debate against Democrat Walter Mondale, raising concerns the ability of the oldest president in history to do the job. But the Great Communicator rebounded in the next debate. Confronted head-on with a question about his age, Reagan's answer was a quip that brought down the house: "I will not make age an issue in this campaign. I am not going to exploit for political purposes my opponent's youth and inexperience."

That same fall, Reagan's vice president, George Bush, faced Geraldine Ferraro, Mondale's Democratic running mate. At one point, Bush lectured Ferraro, the first woman on a major party ticket for the White House: "Let me help you with the difference, Mrs. Ferraro, between Irn and the embassy in Lebanon." Ferraro drew applause from the audience with her response: "Let me say, first of all, that I almost resent, Vice President Bush, your patronizing attitude that you have to teach me about foreign policy."

Two moments stand out from 1988 debates. On the presidential side, Democrat Michael Dukakis, an opponent of capital punishment, gave a dispassionate answer when asked whether he'd seek the death penalty if his wife was raped and murdered. But the vice presidential contest provided the real fireworks. GOP running mate Dan Quayle compared the length of his service in Congress with John F. Kennedy's. That claim, while accurate, opened him to a stinging rebuke from Democrat Lloyd Bentsen: "I served with Jack Kennedy. I knew Jack Kennedy. Jack Kennedy was a friend of mine. Senator, you are no Jack Kennedy."

In 1992, George Bush looked at his watch during a town meeting debate with Bill Clinton and Ross Perot. That moment stoked voters' concerns that Bush as president was out of touch amid the recession. In the vice presidential debate, Perot's running mate James Stockdale asked the rhetorical question, "Who am I? Why am I here?", only to get lost in the verbal crossfire between Quayle and Al Gore.

Last but not least, in '96, the Clinton-Gore team took a deftly disarming approach to neutralize their Republican rivals. President Clinton praised his GOP rival Bob Dole's record in World War II, while Gore lauded Dole running mate Jack Kemp. This year's voters will soon learn whether that tactic was an exception – or a brand new rule.