Debacle: What Al Gore’s First Debate Against George W. Bush Can Teach Hillary Clinton
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Al Gore and George W. Bush at the first presidential debate in 2000, moderatored by Jim Lehrer.
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Stephen Crowley/The New York Times
Note to Hillary Clinton: You can be whip-smart in a presidential debate, yet still blow it spectacularly. Just ask Al Gore.
The vice president had the advantage going into his first debate against Gov. George W. Bush of Texas on Oct. 3, 2000. Like Mrs. Clinton, Mr. Gore was perceived as knowing far more about domestic issues, foreign affairs and the art of debating than the Republican nominee. He also had a modest lead in several national polls.
Many Democrats believed Mr. Bush would look like a policy lightweight compared with Mr. Gore, an assumption that many have made about Donald J. Trump. But Mr. Bush had surprises in store. And Mr. Gore was undone by impulses he could not control.
No other presidential debate has more resonance — or red flags — for Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Trump, who will face off on Monday for the first time. This is the story of that first debate between Mr. Bush and Mr. Gore, as told to me recently by people who were deeply involved in the event — including some who believe it cost Mr. Gore the presidency.
Spring
Karen P. HughesBush adviser overseeing his debate preparations
We faced a major challenge throughout the campaign: The American economy was going well; times were relatively good. We had to give people a reason to vote for change and convince them that George W. Bush could do the job.
Stuart StevensBush media adviser
The first debate is usually when you reach the most voters. So we started prepping really early — in April 2000. But we did it in secret. Nobody wanted to broadcast that Bush was prepping that early.
Hughes
Keeping quiet was a way to keep expectations low for Governor Bush. In debates, you run against expectations almost as much as you run against your opponent.
Stevens
People thought Bush wasn’t smart. He was smart. But being smart isn’t enough to win a debate. You have to prepare.
Judd GreggFormer New Hampshire senator and Gore stand-in
The governor understood federal issues only tangentially. He knew he couldn’t just walk onto the debate stage and start competing with someone like Gore on substance and policy.
Hughes
We gathered in Austin that April and watched tapes of Gore’s previous debates. Our policy guys assembled briefing materials. One policy guy, Bob Zoellick, wrote a memo in May with debate questions we needed to be prepared for. Everything from trade to nuclear weapons to biotech.
Robert B. ZoellickBush policy adviser
The baseline performance was to show competence on the issues. This required anticipating the most likely 50-75 topics and then to sharpen Gov. Bush’s positions to 3-5 points on each. This requires editing and then recalling 150-400 points in a pressure-cooker environment. Not so easy.
Hughes
I was very stressed.
George W. Bush prepared for the debate with the help of Senator Judd Gregg of New Hampshire at Mr. Bush’s ranch in Crawford, Tex. M. Spencer Green/Associated Press
Stevens
We did about 15 mock debate sessions in all, where he could practice his answers. The first couple mocks were in late spring at his father’s house in Kennebunkport. It was hush-hush. Judd Gregg, who was playing Al Gore for us, slouched down in the car coming in so reporters couldn’t recognize him.
Gregg
I’d spent two months trying to just totally absorb myself in what Gore thought, what his policies were, and how I thought he would react to Bush. Gore and I had served in the House together. Very, very smart, but extremely arrogant. I did my best to be Gore. No ad-libbing or joking around.
Stevens
We learned a lot in Kennebunkport. Bush was very good at acquiring information rapidly. He was likable. But we had to draw contrasts more sharply with Gore.
Hughes
We needed to get crisper in making the change argument. Our method of preparing the governor became, here’s the core principle, here’s the policy, here’s the contrast with Gore, and here are some comebacks to what Gore might say about your policy. It helped to have months to prepare. Cramming at the last minute doesn’t work for debates.
Summer
Tad DevineGore senior adviser
Al’s poll numbers were up and down that spring. But we felt the first debate would be his moment — that people would see two candidates on stage, but only one president.
Robert ShrumGore senior adviser
We didn’t start preparing until summer. Gore had debated so many times. If you have a candidate who really knows his stuff, then spending time filling his or her head with a million new facts is a big waste. In fact, it’s unproductive.
Devine
What Gore really wanted, in the debate, was to show people that he could deal with the issues at a depth that Bush simply could not.
Shrum
We felt we could create moments around issues where Gore was strong — the drug benefit for seniors, protecting Social Security, opposing Bush’s tax cuts for the rich.
Carter EskewLongtime Gore adviser
We’d sit there and literally, in Gore’s case, take four pages of policy and get it down to an index card and then dive into the index card and say, “What’s the point you’re trying to make?” Sometimes he could frame the issue into a memorable moment, but I wouldn’t say it was natural.
Shrum
Sometimes we over-framed an issue. In one practice session, we talked about using the metaphor of a “lockbox” to protect Social Security and Medicare. Gore didn’t say it very often in our prep. I was one of the authors of the metaphor, and thought it was fine to say two times in a debate, maybe three times.
Devine
Saying a phrase like “lockbox” more than a few times sounds canned — as we would eventually learn.
Al Gore at Colony Resort, in Longboat Key, Fla., where he did debate preparation in October 2000. Ruth Fremson/The New York Times
Charlie CookEditor of The Cook Political Report
There was no game-changing news or event in July and August that affected the race — just the two political conventions. Bush had a double-digit lead coming out of his convention. Then Gore had a strong convention as well. The race tightened up and Gore started inching ahead in the polls.
Eskew
We only had one real surprise during our debate prep — a significant disruption, really.
Devine
Just a few weeks before the debate.
Eskew
Former Congressman Tom Downey was playing Bush for us in our mock sessions. Then he got a package containing a videotape and papers related to Bush’s debate prep. He turned them in and recused himself from our debate prep. That was big. Downey had played Gore’s opponents in debate prep in 1996 and for the 2000 primaries. He had looked at every single piece of tape on Bush. Read everything. He could sit down and say to Gore, “Here are the things that I see, here’s what you can and can’t do against Bush.”
Shrum
We quickly found a new Bush — Paul Begala, who knew Gore from Bill Clinton’s 1992 campaign.
Eskew
Paul prepped quickly and did a great job, but he was more of a caricature of Bush, whereas Downey might have actually been the character of Bush. Few things matter more in mock debates than the person playing your opponent.
One week out
Paul BegalaDemocratic strategist and Bush stand-in
Right away I picked up a problem about Gore during debate prep: a raw, unbridled contempt he had for Bush. It wasn’t the usual “my worthy adversary and I have different ideas.” He would sometimes sigh when I was talking, or frown, or roll his eyes. And his tone and language too — it all communicated that Gore thought Bush was an idiot. “You don’t deserve to be on stage with me” was Gore’s basic attitude.
Eskew
I don’t remember Gore’s sighs being super prevalent in debate prep. Gore was pretty energized. We did debate camp down in Longboat Key, Fla., where he had prepped for past debates. We used the same room, same sets — it was all a bit of a talisman for him. There were a couple times Begala did get under Gore’s skin, but of course you want some of that.
Shrum
We would tell Gore not to react to Bush, not to grimace at him — just look down at your notepad and write something. It could be doodles for all that matters.
Devine
There weren’t supposed to be reaction shots of Al or Bush on television during the debates. But we worried that the networks might not adhere to that — that they might do split-screen shots.
Begala
I think Gore liked establishing himself as the alpha dog against Bush. When we took the stage, he tried dominating me with a handshake — stepping on my feet and rocking my shoulders back. And he invaded my space a couple of times.
Shrum
We told Gore that he couldn’t invade Bush’s space. Explicitly.
Gregg
I’m not surprised Gore invaded Paul Begala’s space. When I was playing Gore during Governor Bush’s mock debates, I was absolutely sure that Gore was going to try to walk across the stage and get in the governor’s space. So I did it a number of ways. I handed him a card on stage to sign. I would walk up to him and stand right beside him when he was answering a question. He just looked at me like I was some immature kid and kept on answering the question.
The stand-ins: Paul Begala and Judd Gregg. Left: Lexey Swall for The New York Times; Right: Cooper Neill for The New York Times
Hughes
We knew Al Gore comes across as lecturing and condescending, so we were prepared for that. At the final prep sessions at the governor’s ranch in Texas, we put huge sheets of paper on an easel and wrote out in black Sharpie the points that Governor Bush wanted to project. “Substantive/knowledgeable.” “Leadership/inspire,” because we felt he was a stronger, more visionary leader than Gore. “Likable.” “Composed.”
Stevens
Bush’s answers were getting better and better, so we decided to do one full-length, timed mock debate a few days before the debate. But that didn’t go well.
Hughes
We did it at 9 p.m., at the actual time of the debate, which is usually when he is going to bed and reading a book. One car of advisers got lost so we started late. The governor was tired and didn’t want to do this. His answers were short and clipped.
Stevens
I was playing the moderator. Condi Rice kept passing me yellow Post-it notes with all these foreign policy questions. “Ask this question.” I would, but Bush was just not into it. Finally on one Post-it she wrote, “It doesn’t matter, we’re doomed.”
Hughes
The governor is definitely a morning person, which is no small thing at nighttime debates.
Stevens
On the car ride back to Waco late that night, Condi was in the back and hitting her head against the back seat rest, saying, “Oh, we’re gonna lose. We’re gonna get killed.”
In a pivotal moment during the 2000 presidential campaign, a series of missteps by Al Gore at the first of three debates with George W. Bush was said to have damaged the vice president's chances of winning the presidency.
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By SHANE O’NEILL (photo by John Mottern/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images)
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Publish Date
September 24, 2016
The debate
Cook
As the candidates took the stage in Boston, most political analysts agreed that these were the big unknowns: Was Bush smart enough for the presidency? Would Gore come across as likable and relatable? Everyone expected Gore to be a far better debater. Bush was the bigger question mark.
Jim LehrerDebate moderator and PBS anchor
I had no gotcha questions prepared. I saw my role as a facilitator — I wasn’t looking for ways to embarrass either of these guys. I just wanted to make sure that their positions and differences would be explained by them. I thought it was up to each candidate to correct the other’s facts. Because if I fact-checked everything, that’s all I’d do all night.
Hughes
Gov. Bush was rested and ready. He knew what he wanted to say.
Shrum
The vice president felt good, prepared. He was kind of chomping at the bit. Watching the debate, we were winning on substance, we were winning on who was really fit to be president. But Gore was also sighing and reacting to Bush, and there were lots of reaction shots. It was somewhat inexplicable — as if the things that Gore had been told not to do became his to-do list.
Devine
I think Al was genuinely exasperated by the stuff Bush was saying, and he just was being a normal person.
Eskew
While I obviously saw the sighing, I didn’t think, “Oh my god, please don’t do this! This isn’t happening!” I thought Gore was doing well.
Stevens
Our Bush team watched the debate near the Gore team, and we sometimes heard them whooping and cheering. And we kind of looked at each other and said, “I don’t know, is it just us? Gore seems like a huge jerk.”
Shrum
Gore ended up saying “lockbox” seven times. And when Bush said he had once visited the scene of forest fires, Gore felt the need to jump in and have the last word and say he had visited the fire scene too. One of my colleagues said, “Oh God, reel him in.”
Hughes
When Gore answered that he’d seen the fires — and that he’d gone to them with James Lee Witt of FEMA — I jumped up and said, that’s not true. Gore went with another FEMA official. He was such a serial exaggerator. I started calling that first debate “Lies and Sighs.”
Lehrer
After the debate I walked out with my family, and one of my daughters said something I’ll never forget. She said, “Oh Dad, isn’t it something, what Gore did?” I stopped and said, “What do you mean?” Because as a rule, I only look at the candidate who is speaking. She said, “All that huffing and puffing and eyerolling and sighing.” I said, “My God, I didn’t know anything about it.” And she said, “Well, Dad, that’s going to be the lead of the debate stories.” And she was right. That night proved beyond any shadow of any doubt that body language is truly important in a presidential debate.
The aftermath
Shrum
I didn’t think Gore’s sighs were a really big deal until I got to the spin room. Reporters kept asking about sighs, reactions, exaggerations.
Eskew
I have a feeling that where we lost the debate was afterwards. The Bush people sensed vulnerability and legitimately took advantage of some of Gore’s performance flaws. And why not? You can win on policy, but not win overall if you wound yourself.
Begala
For all of Gore’s good answers, his feelings for Bush was his fatal flaw. You can’t afford to look across the stage with that kind of contempt at someone who millions of people have nominated as their standard-bearer, and not have it bleed over to the audience and have them see you negatively.
Hughes
I thought the governor showed himself to be fresh and different and a clear thinker in that first debate. And more likable than Gore. But we did want more facts and figures for the next debates.
Stevens
You need actual policy details more than zingers. The road to hell is written with zingers.
Mr. Gore and Mr. Bush at the end of the debate. Stephen Crowley/The New York Times
Cook
That first debate took on an even larger life five days later when “Saturday Night Live” did a devastating spoof where the Gore character wouldn’t stop talking and reacting and saying “lockbox.” That “S.N.L.” skit was replayed on the news so many times. It was like onion dip — sometimes it develops more flavor on the second or third day.
Devine
We had to try to laugh about it. But really, it hurt us.
Shrum
The second debate was a tremendous overcorrection by Gore. He kept agreeing with Bush, and Bush just clearly won.
Gregg
It was the third debate when Gore finally invaded Bush’s space. He walked over right next to Bush and hovered as Bush spoke. Bush shot him a quick look — it was perfect.
Devine
Election Day followed, and the Florida recount, and we know the rest. But if Gore had won that first debate clearly and decisively, I think that he would have been president. There’s no doubt about it.