Close election adding importance to debate

Both campaigns think that what has been dubbed the “Shrek vs. Breck” debate tonight in Cleveland between Vice President Dick Cheney and Democratic Sen. John Edwards will have more importance than usual, with the race tightening just 28 days before Election Day.

Democrats are brimming with confidence after Sen. John Kerry’s performance on Thursday night, and campaign spokesman Joe Lockhart said he thinks Mr. Edwards can further cut into the Bush-Cheney ticket’s lead by charging corruption regarding the vice president’s ties to Halliburton and its contracts for Iraq’s reconstruction.

The Bush campaign, meanwhile, is not worried about what it considers “false and baseless attacks” on Mr. Cheney, because it would give the vice president an opening to show that the Bush administration, unlike the Democrats, focuses on what matters in the field of national security.

The campaign also would like to remind the tens of millions of voters watching about Mr. Edwards’ background as a trial lawyer, a line of attack by Republicans that has gained little traction so far, but could have more impact coming from Mr. Cheney and with Mr. Edwards in the national spotlight.

“John Edwards was picked because he was a successful personal-injury lawyer,” Bush campaign chief strategist Matthew Dowd said. “He’s had an unbelievably good record of winning personal-injury awards. This was a person who was basically paid to debate in front of juries, so he’s a professional debater.”

The contrast between the gruff Mr. Cheney and the well-coifed Mr. Edwards led the ABC News political site “the Note” to refer to the debate as “Shrek vs. Breck” — a reference to the animated movie ogre and to conservative disparagement of Mr. Edwards as “the Breck girl” because of his good looks.

A poll released by Annenberg yesterday showed that registered voters, and particularly political independents, have a more positive view of Mr. Edwards than they do of Mr. Cheney.

Just 37 percent of 1,515 persons polled over the weekend had a favorable view of Mr. Cheney, and 42 percent had an unfavorable opinion. Mr. Edwards did slightly better with all registered voters, with a 38 percent favorable rating and 31 percent unfavorable.

However, among independents, 32 percent expressed a favorable view of the vice president and 50 percent had an unfavorable opinion. Mr. Edwards enjoyed a higher favorability rating of 39 percent, and 27 percent viewed him negatively.

The Kerry campaign hopes the acerbic and unglamorous Mr. Cheney will drive those numbers further down with tonight’s high public exposure.

“The vice president is in a bit of a box because of the president’s performance,” Mr. Lockhart said.

“The president came off as somewhat petulant, annoyed. We saw the scowl and the growl. It’s pretty tough when you want to turn to Vice President Cheney and say the country wants to be cheered up,” Mr. Lockhart said.

The former Clinton administration press secretary said Mr. Edwards will insist that Mr. Cheney has “questions he has to answer” about benefiting financially from the war contracts awarded the company he once headed.

“We have an open mind for what the explanation may be, but he doesn’t ever answer the question,” Mr. Lockhart said in a conference call with reporters yesterday.

The strategy to go after Mr. Cheney’s Halliburton ties dovetails with a campaign ad that Mr. Kerry debuted in mid-September. But the Bush campaign pointed to a study by the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania that calls the attacks false.

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