US: Seconds out, round one...
2004-09-30 23:54
Miami - President George W Bush and senator John Kerry joust for the votes of millions of Americans on Thursday, in a high-stakes televised debate, which could be the pivotal moment of their race for the White House.
The Republican president and his Democratic challenger will go head-to-head in a bruising political prize fight, which could cement Bush's modest opinion-poll lead or roil the race by sparking a Kerry comeback.
In a clash of policy, as well as debating styles, blunt-spoken Bush and the fluent Kerry will joust about Iraq, with the challenger painting the president's claims of success in the occupied country as fantasy.
Bush, meanwhile, paints Kerry as a indecisive waffler, unfit to lead in an age of terror spawned by the September 11 attacks, despite his valour under fire in the Vietnam war.
Debate over Iraq will be sharpened by the latest tragedy in the country, after at least 49 people were killed, dozens of them children, in three nearly simultaneous car bomb attacks on Thursday.
Have yet to warm to him
The two men will step into the ring at the University of Miami at 21:00 (01:00 GMT on Friday) for a 90-minute bout on foreign policy and security.
Kerry, a four-term Massachusetts senator is in a clear second-place in the race.
Polls show that undecided voters may be open to a change of president, but are have yet to warm to him.
Bush would settle for a draw in the first of three debates, content with his lead of about five to eight points in the polls ahead of the November 2 election.
Both candidates have spent days preparing for their clash, sparring with surrogates and testing applause lines on the campaign trail.
Security at the sprawling University of Miami campus was pervasive, amid warnings that the election campaign was a tempting target for terror groups.
Deciding where to allocate resources
Armies of journalists covering the debates were searched by secret service agents elsewhere on campus before heading to the site on secured buses.
The debate and the reaction to it will set the endgame strategy for the remaining 33 days of the campaign, helping the two sides decide where to allocate resources in the decisive state-by-state battles.
The series of televised face-offs was scheduled after weeks of negotiations on the most-minute aspects of the event, including the height of podiums, the temperature of the room and allowable camera angles.