Be Careful What You Say...

Acres of policy and untold hours of tedium have registered on flickering screens since the era of TV debates dawned in the sweat and 5 o'clock shadow of Richard Nixon.

The policies are largely forgotten. What people remember are the rare but bracing times when a candidate made a treacherous misstep or rose to an opportunity, declaring: "Where's the beef?" "I paid for this microphone!" "Senator, you're no Jack Kennedy."

Humor, anger, appearance, self-confidence. More often than not, those are the qualities that have turned political debates into theater. Sometimes, even a command of facts has helped.

Al Gore and George W. Bush - and Joe Lieberman and Dick Cheney - should be mindful of this history. Indeed, a lesson learned in the Nixon-Kennedy debates of 1960 is very much in play today - that the candidate who's best known or on top has the most to lose in debates and the greatest incentive to skip them.

After 1960, three elections went by before the nation saw another presidential debate. Only when President Ford was sinking against Jimmy Carter in 1976 did he agree to go face-to-face with him in an ultimately futile effort at a comeback.

And he may have lost the 1976 election as a result of the debate. Defending his administration's foreign affairs ability, he declared, "There is no Soviet domination of Eastern Europe."

The first Kennedy-Nixon debate, in Chicago on Sept. 26, 1960, featured few substantive differences between two well-spoken candidates, and the media did not immediately see it as the Nixon disaster it proved to be.

Gerald Ford in the 1976 presidential debate

Bob Dole in the 1976 presidential debate

John F. Kennedy debates Richard Nixon

Men have been careful with makeup and razors ever since. But President Bush's body language in 1992 - looking twice at his watch in a debate with Bill Clinton and Ross Perot - deepened the impression that his time was running out.

Ronald Reagan alternately used anger, humor and poise to score in a forum where he could get lost in policy intricacies.

The Reagan campaign had covered the rental for the hall. When organizers tried to turn off his sound as he explained why the four should join the debate, he snapped: "I paid for this microphone," as Bush looked woefully on.

In 1984, Reagan used humor to get out of a hole he had dug for himself. After a faltering debate that raised questions about his stamina, Reagan faced Democrat Walter Mondale for a second time.

When a questioner asked him if he had any doubts that he possessed the strength for the job at his age, Reagan, then 73, hit the sweet spot. "Not at all," he began. "I will not make age an issue of this campaign. I am not going to exploit, for political purposes, my opponent's youth and inexperience."

Mondale had no choice but to join in the laughter. Without uttering a word, he saw Reagan's age problem neutralized and his chance of catching up in the last weeks dim.

Earlier that year, Mondale had delivered one of the most memorable lines in TV debate history. Suggesting Democratic primary rival Gary Hart had no substance, he quoted from a fast-food hamburger commercial: "Where's the beef?"

Vice President Dan Quayle invoked Kennedy at his peril in October 1988. Debate coaches later said he was holding his own until he compared his qualifications to Kennedy's. "Senator, you're no Jack Kennedy," Democrat Lloyd entsen said.

In October 1992, political novice James Stockdale, then Perot's running mate, faltered in debate with Gore and Quayle. But in doing so he asked a profound question that all candidates, one way or another, have to answer about their ambitions.

"Who am I?" Stockdale asked. "What am I doing here?"

©1999 CBS Worldwide Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report