A Tie Goes to the Gipper

It was his last great test as a campaigner. Shaken by a stumbling performance in the first presidential debate two weeks earlier in Louisville, Ronald Reagan had to show millions of Americans watching Sunday night's face-off in Kansas City that he was in command of his office, in control of his facts and not addled by age. Once again, the Gipper was up to the task.

On a stage with softer backlighting than in Louisville, Reagan looked vigorous and spoke like the Great Communicator of political legend. The nervousness of two weeks before was gone, as were the long pauses and defensive stance. He was occasionally loose and rambling on substance, but constantly cool and winning in manner. Above all, he strongly diffused the age issue that had arisen after the first debate and may have been the only obstacle to his reelection.

Indeed, Reagan turned the issue around with his oh-so-familiar grin and a sharp, well-rehearsed quip: "I am not going to exploit for political purposes my opponent's youth and inexperience." Mondale smiled back but had to have been surprised by the unexpected twist, and the audience laughed with the President.

Repeatedly, an aggressive and more crisply articulate Mondale tried to zero in on Reagan's competence and leadership ability rather than his years. The question, declared the challenger, is "Who's in charge?" Mondale accused Reagan of failing to exert control, specifically with respect to security measures in the face of terrorist threats in Beirut, a CIA handbook advising political assassinations, blackmail and kidnapings in Nicaragua, and fights within his Government about arms-control policy. Declared Mondale: "A President must not only assure that we're tough. [He] must also be wise and smart in the exercise of that power."

All such attacks seemed to roll off the President. Mondale scored many debating points after a somewhat tentative start, but his target slipped the best punches. Flashing a bit of folksy humor, sounding hurt more than angry at some of the Mondale sallies and committing no harmful gaffe, a reassuring Reagan almost surely avoided any serious slippage in the opinion polls. Technically, Mondale may have scored better through the 90 minutes—a panel of debating experts assembled by the Associated Press had him ahead 187 to 168, out of a maximum of 210 points, in such qualities as reasoning, evidence and organization—but his underdog status demanded a knockout, and that he did not get. A quick ABC News survey of 695 viewers (with a possible sampling error of five points either way) showed Reagan a narrow winner: 39% to 36%, with 25% seeing it as a tie. The debate had virtually no impact on candidate preference: each man gained a single point, with Reagan getting a 56 to 43 edge and 1% undecided (down from 3%).

"We won," declared Reagan Chief of Staff James Baker shortly after the debate ended. "If it is written that it was a wash, we still win. The age issue is gone, g-o-n-e!" Asked if the feeling in his camp was better than after the Louisville clash, Baker replied happily, "You're damn right!"