Vice President Dick Cheney and Democratic vice presidential nominee John Edwards exchanged blows over foreign and domestic policy in a debate Tuesday night at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland.
The debate — moderated by PBS’s Gwen Ifill– stayed close to the issues as both men jabbed at the other’s records in office.
“You voted for the war,” Cheney said. “And then you voted against supporting the troops when they needed the equipment, the fuel, the spare parts and the ammunition and body armor.”
Edwards responded by defending Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry’s foreign policy positions.
“(John Kerry) said very clearly that he will never give any country veto power over the security of the United States of America,” said Edwards, a North Carolina senator.
Edwards challenged Cheney repeatedly on the Bush administration’s foreign policy decisions and said the war was a diversion from the real threat to America’s security: al-Qaida and Osama bin Laden.
“Listen carefully to what the vice president is saying,” Edwards said. “Because there is no connection between Saddam Hussein and the attacks of Sept. 11 — period.”
Cheney denied Edwards’ charges.
“The senator has got his facts wrong,” Cheney said. “I have not suggested there’s a connection between Iraq and 9/11, but there’s clearly an established Iraqi track record with terror.”
Edwards consistently attacked Cheney on the election’s core issues: Iraq, the economy, health care and education.
The candidates also touched on gay marriage. Cheney broke with President Bush in stating the issue is best left to the states while Edwards directly challenged Bush’s proposed consitutional amendment banning gay marriage, asserting that politicians “should not use the Constitution to divide this country.”
Ellen Shearer, director of the Medill News Service in Washington, D.C., said both candidates stuck to the issues and came out strong.
Edwards was helped by the fact that he was able to stand up to Cheney without getting “blasted to the ground,” she said, while Cheney was “substantial in stressing issues.”
“People watching it ought to realize the differences between the two,” Shearer said.
But ultimately the vice presidential debate is likely to make little difference, she said.
“People vote for the president,” she said.
Most Northwestern students agreed that both candidates emerged strong but that Cheney displayed a stronger command of the issues.
“I wasn’t impressed with Bush last week and I had a lot more confidence in what Dick Cheney said tonight,” said Jen Leyton, an Education sophomore who watched parts of the debate from the Norris University Center.
Leyton, who interned in the White House’s Office of Public Liaison this summer and is registered Republican, said she disagrees with President Bush’s social views and remains unsure for whom she will vote on Nov. 2.
“I’m kind of tempted to write in Colin Powell,” Leyton said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Reach Dan Strumpf at [email protected].
