Sparks fly, but no explosions in Cheney-Edwards debate

Vice President Dick Cheney and Democratic rival John Edwards had very different assignments for Tuesday night's first and only vice presidential debate in this year's election. And both performed admirably.
Cheney had the task of re-energizing President Bush's campaign, which had been flagging since last week's presidential debate. Bush had fared so poorly against his Democratic challenger, John Kerry, that polls showed the race to be a statistical tie. Prior to their verbal clash -- the first of three, with the second scheduled for Friday -- Bush's lead was larger than the margins of error in the polls.
Thus, Cheney, a veteran politician who had served in Congress and in three different administrations, had to kick his performance up several notches. He did.
Edwards, on the other hand, had to make sure he did no harm to the reinvigorated Democratic campaign. He certainly lived up to his reputation as a skillful debater, avoiding minefields and staying on message. The senator from North Carolina is a trial lawyer by profession.
At the end of the 90 minutes' lively exchange, held on the campus of Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, both men could declare victory. As for the all-important undecided voters, they'll have to tune in Friday and on Oct. 13 to see how well the standard-bearers fill in whatever blanks remain in their evaluations.
As with the Bush-Kerry debate, the Cheney-Edwards dustup revealed major differences in the way they view the world and America's role in it -- as the lone superpower. They also differ in their approaches to dealing with the myriad domestic problems, including the loss of millions of good-paying jobs, the growing budget deficit, the increase in the number of Americans without health insurance coverage, the rising cost of prescription drugs and the still unacceptably large public education gap.
Tax cuts
The president and vice president are unwavering in their contention that the tax cuts they have pushed through Congress will trigger an economic recovery that will not only see the return of jobs, especially in the manufacturing sector, but will reverse the budget deficit trend.
Massachusetts Sen. Kerry and his running mate, Edwards, believe the Bush tax cuts are responsible for the growing deficit and that only the very rich have benefited. They have proposed rolling back the cuts for those Americans earning more than $200,000.
But it is on the issue of the war in Iraq that the sharpest differences can be found. The Bush-Cheney team is determined to stay the course in bringing democracy to that economically, physically and emotionally devastated country.
Kerry-Edwards, on the other hand, note that the United States has 90 percent of the forces on the ground and is picking up 90 percent of the cost. They also argue that Iraq has distracted the administration from the most important aspect of the war on global terrorism, launched by Bush after the 9/11 terrorist attacks on our mainland: The capture or death of Osama bin Laden.
And so it went Tuesday night, and can be expected to go on Friday, in a town hall-type setting in which members of the audience will have a chance to interact with the candidates. We would hope Tuesday's Cheney-Edwards debate will inspire some thought-provoking questions.
On Oct. 13, Bush and Kerry will discuss domestic issues. Again, they should be forced to flesh out the positions touched upon by their running mates.