ELECTION 2004

• Cheney, Edwards trade sharp barbs • Case Western U. cashes in on occasion • Cheney, Edwards spar over Iraq, truth-telling in their debate • Campus becomes nearly carnival • Excerpts from Tuesday's vice presidential debate LOCAL • Old warriors disagree, but they do so amiably • Stand-in Portman center of attention • School election offers glimpse for future voters • Election 2004 section

TRANSCRIPT

• Go online for the complete debate transcript

Cheney and Edwards slugged it out over Iraq, jobs and each other's judgment in their one and only debate before heading for the battleground state of Florida and its 27 electoral votes. Cheney was appearing Wednesday in Tallahassee, Edwards in West Palm Beach.

The Bush camp claimed that a strong performance by Cheney in Tuesday's night's debate in Cleveland helped break momentum that appeared to be going Kerry's way after the first presidential debate, while Democrats said Edwards more than held his own.

Both candidates got some encouragement from post-debate polls. Cheney fared best in an ABC News poll of a Republican-leaning group of registered voters who watched the debate, with 43 percent giving Cheney the edge, while 35 percent said Edwards won.

The Democrat was viewed more positively in a poll of 178 undecided voters by CBS News that found more of this crucial group thought he had won, 41 percent, than thought Cheney had won, 28 percent.

The two candidates, seated at a table just a few feet from each other at Case Western Reserve University, tore into each other repeatedly.

Edwards accused the administration of "not being straight with the American people" about conditions in Iraq and of presiding over the biggest job losses since the Depression.

VOTER VOICES

Voter reaction to the debate between vice presidential candidates Dick Cheney and John Edwards: "I'm still undecided. I just thought it was a lot of name-bashing tonight. ... I was surprised that they had Osama bin Laden cornered and didn't get him, but would go in a hole and get Saddam Hussein." - Nancy Lancaster, 53, of Somers Point, N.J. is a registered Republican who works at an advertising-public relations firm near Atlantic City. --- "I was impressed with the facts or the figures that Edwards threw out on the present war. I was impressed with the figures he threw out with the school dropouts. It seemed to me he was more convincing with his answers to the questions. But sometimes you really wonder which one to believe." - Alice Theis, 66, of Leavenworth, Kan., a budget analyst whose family owns 4,000 acres of farmland with cattle, hogs, corn, wheat, soybeans and hay. --- "My decision in November is probably still not clear, although I think that the vice president probably won this debate. ... I don't think he grabbed for any glory. "I'm not really a supporter of the war in Iraq because of the reason we went to war, and that's a major issue in this election. But as a Republican, I have a basic philosophy that the best way to fight poverty and to have good jobs is to make America a good place to do business. I think the Republican ticket would do that." - Mark Harberts, a 46-year-old architect who works for the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, who has two sons of military age and is a registered Republican. --- "When they discussed stuff like foreign policy that definitely put me more on the Republican side but then I would be pulled back to the Democrats' side when they discussed social issues and issues that affect my life. ... As far as Sen. Edwards, I'm going to have to agree that he doesn't have enough experience. I don't want to vote for someone that could be president someday by default, that doesn't have enough experience. That is a major drawback for their side." - Lesley Entrekin, 30, of suburban Tampa, Fla., a full-time student at the University of South Florida who works as a bartender. --- "Honestly, I'd like to vote for Bush, but I need something to seal it. ... I don't really know what I'm looking for. I just want to make sure that I make the right decision. ... I guess I'm a little bit concerned with how we look to other countries. I figure it would be good if we got another guy in there. (But) when I watch Kerry, he's saying all the things that Bush did wrong but it doesn't seem he has a plan to change it." - Brian Sheehan, 23, of Cinnaminson, N.J., is in his last year at Burlington County College student where he is studying chemistry. --- "I thought both did OK, Cheney probably won. But I'm still undecided, still leaning toward Kerry and I'll make up my mind Friday after the next (Bush-Kerry) debate." - Bill Vaughn, 64, Concord, N.H., an accountant and registered as an undeclared voter.

"Your facts are just wrong," Cheney counterpunched. And at one point, he told Edwards, "Senator, frankly, you have a record in the Senate that's not very distinguished."

Edwards, referring to Cheney's long record of public service, asserted: "One thing that's very clear is that a long resume does not equal good judgment. I mean, we've seen over and over and over the misjudgments made by this administration."

The Democrat also said that as a member of Congress representing Wyoming more than a decade ago, Cheney voted against Head Start and banning plastic guns that can escape detection in metal detectors.

Edwards quickly put Cheney on the defensive by suggesting the administration had botched Iraq and is still misleading the nation about the situation there.

"The American people don't need us to explain this to them. They see it on their television every single day," Edwards said.

The vice presidential debate helped set the stage for Friday's second debate between Bush and Kerry, a town-hall style meeting at Washington University in St. Louis.

As to what Bush has to do Friday night, Bush adviser Mary Matalin said the debates are "separate and equal events," but that Cheney had built on what Bush said on foreign policy in the first debate and that "the president in his Friday debate will build upon what the vice president said tonight on the economy."

She said Cheney's performance will make it easier for Bush. "We got the job done tonight," she said.

But Kerry strategist Tad Devine said the vice presidential debate makes the job harder for Bush, not easier. "Cheney needed to stop our momentum, and he didn't. Now Bush has got to stop the momentum."

The debate between Cheney, an experienced debator, and Edwards, a freshman senator from North Carolina who made millions of dollars as a successful trial lawyer, encouraged give-and-take - and both gave and took.

"You're not credible on Iraq because of the enormous inconsistencies that John Kerry and you have cited time after time after time during the course of the campaign. Whatever the political pressures of the moment requires, that's where you're at," Cheney said at one point.

Edwards responded: "What the vice president has just said is just a complete distortion. The American people saw John Kerry on Thursday night. They don't need the vice president or the president to tell them what they saw."

On domestic issues, Edwards said more Americans are in poverty and living without health insurance than when the president took office in 2001.

But Cheney said that since the summer of 2003, jobs have been created again, and that a Kerry-Edwards administration would seek to raise taxes.

Cheney, whose daughter Mary is a lesbian, spoke supportively about gay relationships and said that "people ought to be free to choose any arrangement they want." As to Bush's support for a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage, "He sets policy for this administration, and I support him," Cheney said.

Edwards said it was obvious that the Cheneys loved their daughter and that "you can't have anything but respect" for them. "I believe marriage is between a man and a woman and so does John Kerry," Edwards said. But, he added, "We should not use the Constitution to divide this country."