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

The circus that comes to town for a political debate would make P.T. Barnum blush.

The perceived importance of the 2004 vice-presidential debate - set against a backdrop of the most hotly contested state in the presidential election - turned Tuesday night's debate atmosphere into something between a political convention and the Super Bowl.

By Tuesday, Cleveland's television anchors were using "Ground Zero" almost as much as Cincinnati's use the word "Tristate."

Cleveland reporters spared no hyperbole in reporting the story. Don't tell them it's only a vice-presidential debate.

"This single event could determine the fate of the country and the world," said Ted Henry, the WEWS news anchor who counts the debate among the biggest stories he's covered in his 32-year career in Cleveland television. "And no, I don't think it's overly dramatic to say that."

The local stations covered the event like the Super Bowl, with hours-long pre-game shows complete with "keys to the game" analysis. (For Cheney: "Attack Kerry's leadership." For Edwards: "Build on Kerry's momentum.")

Both parties' spin machines started up 48 hours before Gwen Ifell asked the first question and went late into Cleveland's cold October night.

The backdrop for this carefully scripted mayhem was Case Western Reserve University, a unique amalgam of professional schools and liberal arts colleges that actually has more graduate students than undergrads.

The university turned the event into a full-on PR blitz, coordinating the event with a multimillion-dollar ad campaign in national newspapers and magazines and the cable channels MTV and CNN. The "Race at Case" logo was on buttons, banners and T-shirts. Reporters covering the debate got a magic eight ball-like "mystical orb" with the school logo - presumably to help prognosticate the election's outcome.

"For the investment we are making, we will literally get tens of millions of dollars' worth of media value in terms of exposure," said Michael Ruffner, the school's vice president of marketing and communications.

That investment, at last count, was $4.1 million. That includes the $750,000 fee to the commission on presidential debates, security, new air conditioning for the debate hall and satellite uplinks.

Former Rep. Dennis Eckert, a co-chairman of the debate, counted up all the air time and column inches Cleveland had gotten this week and put the value at $45 million - even before the debate aired.

Inside the auditorium, the audience consisted of what Kerry spokesman Mark Kornblau dubbed the "groom's side" (Edwards, stage left) and the "bride's side" (Cheney, stage right).

Down the hall, a cavernous gymnasium housed 1,000 credentialed reporters, cameramen and television crews. The university charged reporters $200 per line for phones that would be used once to file a story.

Campaign "surrogates" - who provided the pre- and post-debate spin - roamed the aisles. For the convenience of reporters, each campaign carried oversized banners identifying who was spinning.

Almost every cause was represented in Cleveland this week, from the American Missile Defense Association to Greenpeace.

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