Time reports former Massachusetts Governor William Weld, who debated Kerry eight times during the 1996 senate campaign, warns the Bush campaign not to underestimate Kerry in the debates:
"You will never see a more personable John Kerry than in these debates," predicts Weld,
[. . .]
"Watch out for this guy. He is incredibly quick and well versed on substance. Don't expect him to make a mistake or to come across as aloof. This is his turf." Kerry, after all, founded a debating society at his prep school. Bush's chief strategist, Matthew Dowd, says he knows Kerry's record and is not spinning when he describes the challenger as "the best debater ever to run for President" and even "better than Cicero."
According to Time, Weld knew he was in trouble from the first of his eight debates with Kerry, when he pointed to the mother of a slain police officer in the audience and challenged the Senator to explain his opposition to the death penalty. In a ploy familiar to the current campaign Kerry responded by referring to his Vietnam experience:
Kerry began by calling cop killers "scum," then said, "I know something about killing," understanding that nearly every voter watching would make the connection that Weld, who had a bad back, had got out of going to Vietnam. "He then went on about his experiences in Vietnam," Weld recalls. "Everybody forgot what the question had been."
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