Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!usa-post Newsgroups: usa-today.issues,americast.usa-today.issues From: usa-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: usa-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: issues Tue, Nov 3 1992 Date: Tue, 3 Nov 92 04:59:46 EST Message-ID: 11-03 0000 DECISIONLINE: Issues & Debate USA TODAY Update Nov. 3, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network Here are some of the issues and topics being debated across the nation Tuesday morning in USA TODAY: Voting, Exit polls. TODAY'S DEBATE - PEOPLE'S VOTE: USA TODAY'S OPINION: Tempted to skip voting Tuesday because you think one individual can't affect an election? Think again. Of all the presidential campaigns in recent memory, this one echoes loudest with the voice of the people. Time after time, individuals stubbornly followed their own whims and made mockeries of the political pros' predictions. If you doubt it, just remember: This was the year that Bush was supposed to be re-elected by such a landslide that most prominent Democrats never bothered to run: Sen. Bill Bradley, D-N.J., and New York Gov. Mario Cuomo stayed out. So did Sen. Al Gore, who later upset the conventional wisdom by filling out an all-Southern ticket. Instead, voter anxiety over the economy and the Washington status quo gnawed away Bush's popularity and made the campaign a horse race. Even the two-party monopoly on power was threatened as legions of eager volunteers rallied to support Ross Perot. When he dropped out of the race, the media promptly discounted him, only to see his populist platform again capture the public's fancy after the debates. In Congress, incumbents were supposed to enjoy the same unbeatable advantage they had every other year. But voters wouldn't sit still for it. Disgusted by scandal and weary of gridlock, they helped guarantee that at least 98 senators and House members will leave. Unprecedented numbers of women and blacks will be part of the new crowd. This was going to be another one of those years when candidates would keep mum about the need to raise taxes, treating voters as too shortsighted to see beyond their own bank balances. Bush and Clinton still ducked it, but two contenders - Perot and Democrat Paul Tsongas - rose to prominence by forcing the dirty little tax secret out of the closet. If you doubt that you, the voters, hold the cards in this election, just look where the candidates turned to get out their messages: straight to the call-in, audience-response, town-hall TV that is the most direct link to viewers. That's the way elections are supposed to work. It's been a whale of a year. OTHER VIEW: JEFF RIGGENBACH, a San Francisco writer and broadcaster: What's the difference between George Bush and John Gotti? Gotti has at least one conviction. Is Bush "pro-choice" or "pro-life"? Does he accept or reject voodoo economics? The answer is that, at any given moment, the president believes whatever he thinks will best advance his political career. And is Bill Clinton any different? Listen to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, the largest and most influential newspaper in Clinton's home state: "Bill Clinton is a master politician, but what principles, if any, inform his politics? Who knows?" According to the Democrat-Gazette, the one thing we can count on from Clinton is that he'll "never give up where his career is concerned." So on the one hand we have an unprincipled opportunist, and on the other hand we have an unprincipled opportunist. This is the real and meaningful choice we are supposedly offered? And since men who have no convictions are incapable of discussing issues (all they can do is report on which way they think the political winds are blowing), there hasn't really been any serious discussion of important issues during this campaign. Of course, there's Ross Perot. He at least appears to have convictions. He apparently believes that the Bush campaign has been plotting to slander his daughter in order to damage him, that the North Vietnamese once hired the Black Panthers to assassinate him, and that the Constitution should be amended to permit officers to enter homes and search at will, without having to show probable cause or obtain warrants. I'm sorry. If a good election year is one that brings us intelligent public discussion of important issues and presents us with a real, meaningful choice at the ballot box, then 1992 has been one of the worst election years in recent memory. VOICES ACROSS THE NATION ON EXIT POLLS SHOWN BEFORE ELECTION END: ALBUQUERQUE, N.M., Kathryn Farley, 29, film commissioner: I'm torn about it, because ultimately it could affect people on the West Coast. On the other hand, I don't know that there is any scientific data saying exit polls ultimately determine voting behavior. People have the right to know what's happening on the other coast. EASTPORT, Maine, Tom Leaden, 57, special ed. teacher: I think the public is so confused with so many polls it hardly makes a difference what is released. They are overexposed to polls. People are going to say, "I've had enough of the polls, and I'm going to vote how I want to." RANCHO MIRAGE, Calif., Joyce A. Moore, 56, division manager: People on this side of the country say "the election is over, I don't need to go vote." That could hurt a lot of candidates. It can even influence local elections. If the elderly who have no way of getting to the polls see Republicans are ahead in California, they won't vote. EL RENO, Okla., Alex Greenwood, 24, newspaper editor: No, they shouldn't. The main reason being is that it may inhibit West Coast voters. As a newsman myself, I know that instead of going for the rating, the media should be fair. There's enough voter apathy, and all exit polling can do is contribute to it. DURHAM, N.C., Caroline Lattimore, 46, university dean: It is very important every citizen be kept as up to date as possible with regard to the election results. However, I do not favor the media's intervention into projecting a winner prior to the closing of polls in every state, including Hawaii. Tabulation of electoral votes should wait. Issues & Debate Editor: Kate Coughlin. (1-919-855-3491) Making copies of USA TODAY Update (Copyright, 1992) for further distribution violates federal law. This article is copyright 1992 Gannett News Service. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM