Kerry sweeps debates

President George Bush and Senator John Kerry have gone through a role reversal over the past two weeks. Before the first debate, Kerry was behind in the polls and running a reactive campaign, a strategically awful position. He seemed to be undefined, inconsistent, the weaker candidate on national security and not particularly likable overall. But Kerry has turned the tables.

On the campaign trail, Kerry seemed to lack a plan, which is understandable considering that all anyone heard of his rhetoric was sound bytes. Even at the convention, personality damage control trumped policy. But given two-minute response times, Kerry was able to hammer home his positions with facts and clear messages. Bush was clearly caught off-guard in the first debate and even in the third when asked about the flu-vaccine crisis and the assault weapons ban. Bush's failure to counter Kerry's assault not only allowed Kerry to define himself but muddied Bush's previously clear waters.

If any charge had plagued Kerry before the debates, it was that he was called a "flip flopper." But especially during the first two debates, Kerry negated this charge upon which so much of Bush's strategy was based, thus rhetorically pulling Bush's legs out from under him. Kerry explained his stances on the authorization to use force in Iraq, on abortion, on gay marriage, on bilateral talks with North Korea and on the global war on terror. Regardless of whether undecided voters agreed or disagreed with Kerry's positions, at least now they know that they exist and that they are consistent.

This last debate, Kerry knew he had momentum, and he ran with it. By bombarding Bush with fact upon fact, he kept Bush on the defensive even as he became more and more comfortable. Kerry used his power to pace the debate to help establish himself personally. He increasingly talked about religion, not only personally but also philosophically, saying, "Everything is a gift from the Almighty."

Kerry also took advantage of his lead to strategize throughout all three debates and clearly saved some of the best for last. Last night, for the first time, Kerry addressed and enticed single mothers with tax credits, working women and African Americans with affirmative action as well as immigrants and the poor with the promise of fair hiring and an increase in the minimum wage. Although it may have only been lip service, Kerry took advantage of an opportunity to energize his base in an election that appears will be decided by voter turnout.

Although Bush had almost nothing new to say, he did improve his demeanor. He began the debate with a forced smile on only the right side of his face. Unfortunately for him, the first topics were terrorism and the flu vaccine, and he ended up smiling through 9/11 and thousands of flu-related deaths. His opening performance was at best, unnatural and at worst, extremely inappropriate.

But as the debate went on, Bush became more natural and debated the best he has this entire campaign. He was strong on his safe issues - abortion, gay marriage and personal faith – and is still miles ahead of Kerry in terms of personal likeability. One interesting strategy was that Bush answered all questions directed at him about job growth and immigrant labor with a discussion of No Child Left Behind. This left him open to Kerry pointing out that Bush has not fully funded the act, an attack that could have severely weakened Bush except that Kerry failed to capitalize on it.

Throughout the debates, Bush established a pattern of placing much weight on arguments Kerry later refuted (see 2-0: Kerry wins second debate), while Kerry's strategy was to diversify, providing a wide array of statistics and hoping that voters would pick and choose the parts that applied to them. So far, Kerry's strategy seems to be working.

Perhaps Kerry's greatest asset throughout the debates, however, was his consistent personal presentation. And with preliminary polls showing that Kerry tied or even may have won the last debate, Bush is now the candidate faced with an uphill battle.