Election 2000: Buchanan Wins FTC Recommendation for Reform Party Funds; Bush Loses Debate Over Debates; Gore, Texas Governor in Dead Heat
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: We turn to our political coverage and time to look at the winners and losers as the presidential election gets ever closer. And to do that, it's our weekly visit with our senior political analyst, Bill Schneider, who, of course, is in Washington, D.C. Bill, good morning.</s>WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Good morning.</s>KAGAN: First, let's start with a winner. And believe it or not, I guess you're saying Pat Buchanan is a winner this week. How does that work?</s>SCHNEIDER: Well, remember the guy who won the jackpot on "Survivor"?</s>KAGAN: Yes.</s>SCHNEIDER: He wasn't very popular, but he got the money. Pat Buchanan is a survivor, and it looks like he may get the money. The staff of the Federal Election Commission recommended that Buchanan get $12.6 million in federal funds earmarked for the Reform Party candidate. But he still has to survive an immunity challenge. Namely, the other Reform Party candidate who claims the title says he'll take the matter to court. How is Buchanan doing? Our latest poll shows him at 1 percent of the vote. With $12.6 million, maybe he can double or even triple that support.</s>KAGAN: Well, keeping the "Survivor" theme, the tribal council has had a problem figuring out how these debates should be shaped.</s>SCHNEIDER: That's exactly right.</s>KAGAN: And how would you say who's winning and losing that discussion, Bill?</s>SCHNEIDER: Well, the debate over the debates is essentially over and George W. Bush has lost. Bush abandoned his effort to bypass the three scheduled debates and impose his own schedule. When Gore didn't buy it, Bush tried to challenge Gore's credibility. Instead, he challenged, really, his own credibility, and that's not good, because people thought that Bush was more reluctant than Gore to engage in debates. The debate over debates took attention away from Bush's own substantive policy proposals. So wise heads in the GOP told Bush, drop it, and he did. There will be debates.</s>KAGAN: And with our twist of the week, George W. Bush has been giving a lot of grief over recent months to Al Gore about his efforts to reinvent himself. But now it looks like the shoe is on the other reinvention foot.</s>SCHNEIDER: Well, look who's reinventing himself. Governor Bush is running now as the self-described underdog. He has a new campaign slogan, "real plans for real people," he has a new more accessible campaign style, speaking directly with voters in Q&A; sessions. It worked for Bush before after he lost the New Hampshire primary. Our polling shows that Bush has the advantage on leadership skills and vision while Gore has the advantage on issue. For most of this year, voters said leadership skills were more important than issues, and Bush was winning. But since the conventions, issues have become more important and Gore has caught up. Bush has got to get the voters to focus more on the candidate's personal qualities because that's where his strengths lie.</s>KAGAN: Bill, you bring up those poll numbers. George W. Bush really isn't an underdog. This thing is still a dead heat. It's just that George W. Bush is not this overwhelming front-runner that a lot of people expected him to be.</s>SCHNEIDER: That's right. We're seeing Gore at 47, Bush at 44. That's a very narrow lead for Gore. In fact, it's within the margin of error, so we call that a dead heat; Ralph Nader just at 2 percent and Pat Buchanan at 1. Maybe the money will help.</s>KAGAN: It can't hurt, let's put it that way.</s>SCHNEIDER: Oh, sure.</s>KAGAN: Bill Schneider in Washington, thank you.</s>SCHNEIDER: OK.