Right down the middle

ST. LOUIS -- Fiercely disagreeing on nearly every foreign and domestic policy question presented to the candidates, President George W, Bush and Democratic challenger Sen. John Kerry flung accusations and contentiously sparred last Friday night during their second 90-minute debate.\nEighteen uncommitted voters from Missouri, selected by the Gallup Organization, questioned the two presidential candidates on everything from Iraq to health care to tax policy in a town hall-style debate on the campus of Washington University in St. Louis. \nThe questions, two written for each candidate by all 140 voters in attendance, were pre-chosen by debate moderator Charles Gibson of ABC News and "Good Morning America." Gibson said no one had seen the questions he had chosen, and each audience member was unaware of whether they would be selected to ask a candidate a question. \nKerry sought to portray the president as a commander who has enacted a series of wrong decisions for the war on terror. \nIraq and homeland security took center stage again as the candidates took shots at each other's proposed foreign policies, echoing the first presidential debate Sept. 30 in Coral Gables, Fla. \nKerry specifically criticized the president this time around over a report released last week by Charles Duelfer, the chief U.S. weapons inspector, which concluded Saddam Hussein did not possess nor did he have the capacity to produce weapons of mass destruction at the time of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.\n"He didn't have weapons of mass destruction, Mr. President. That was the objective," Kerry said. "And if we had used smart diplomacy, we could have saved $200 billion and an invasion of Iraq. And right now Osama bin Laden might be in jail or dead. That's the war against terror."\nBush, spending most of the foreign policy portion of the debate on the defensive over his decision to go to war, sought to portray Kerry as too wishy-washy to successfully lead a war on terror.\nWhen one audience member said her coworkers thought Kerry was too "wishy-washy," Bush replied that he understood where they were coming from and questioned Kerry's consistency on Iraq.\n"He said he thought Saddam Hussein was a grave threat and now said it was a mistake to remove Saddam Hussein from power," Bush said. "Now I can see why people think that he changes position quite often. Because he does."\nWhile they differed sharply on issues relating to war, both candidates were able to agree on one issue: they both are entirely opposed to reinstituting a draft for compulsory military service.\nFraming the candidates for their third debate in Tempe, Ariz., devoted exclusively to domestic policy, the second half of the town hall forum focused on domestic issues, ranging from abortion to judicial nominations to economic policy.\nBush questioned Kerry's proposal to roll back the president's tax cuts on those making more than $200,000 a year, and sought to portray Kerry as a tax-and-spend liberal out of step with mainstream America and who wants to increase the role of the federal government.\n"He's proposed $2.2 trillion in new spending. And he said he's going to tax the rich to close the tax gap. He can't. He's going to tax everybody here to fund his programs. That's just reality," the president said.\nKerry, seeking to portray a fiscally irresponsible administration which squandered a budget surplus on tax cuts for the wealthy while compiling record deficits, dismissed Bush's liberal charge.\n"The president is just trying to scare everybody here with throwing labels around," Kerry said. "I mean, compassionate conservative? What does that mean? Cutting 500,000 kids from after school programs? Cutting 365,000 kids from health care? Running up the biggest deficits in American history? Mr. President, you're batting 0 for 2."\nBush, however, persevered and said Kerry's congressional voting record doesn't reflect a history of fiscal restraint and tax-relief on his behalf.\n"It's just not credible when he talks about being fiscally conservative. It's just not credible. If you look at his record in the Senate, he voted to break the spending caps over 200 times," Bush said. "And here he says he's going to be a fiscal conservative all of the sudden. It's just not credible. You cannot believe it. Of course he's going to raise your taxes."\nAsked by an audience member if he would look into the camera and make a solemn pledge to Americans making less than $200,000 a year that he would not raise their taxes, Kerry quickly glanced around for the nearest camera and said, "Absolutely, yes. Right into the camera, yes. I am not going to raise taxes."\n-- Contact senior writer Tony Sams at ajsams@indiana.edu.