Courtly Combat In Kentucky

Who says there’s no civility in politics anymore?

At their only scheduled debate, vice presidential nominees Joe Lieberman and Dick Cheney shared a collegial 90 minutes explaining their policy differences in patient, respectful tones.

Speaking with CBS News Correspondent Bill Plante after the debate, Lieberman said he was pleased with his performance. He and Cheney both said there would be no backing down on disagreements over issues.

"I know that Al and I are going to stick to the issues. We're going to talk about their records when it seem appropriate. We're certainly going to talk about their proposals, which we thing really don't benefit the country," said Lieberman of his GOP opponents after the debate.

"Neither one of us would be here if it weren't for George Bush and Al Gore. I'm happy to join him in the arena, but (Bush) is my leader. I'm happy to join him in a supporting role," said Cheney.

Lieberman and Cheney both said after the debate that U.S. miliary readiness was the biggest issue of contention between the men, who both have strong ties to the U.S. armed forces.

Seated around a desk with a single moderator on a stage at Centre College in Danville, Kent., Thursday night, the courtly candidates, who have 60 years of political experience between them, promised at the outset nt to go negative – and they didn’t.

Like Al Gore and George W. Bush before them, Lieberman and Cheney drew sharp distinctions on taxes, Social Security, education and the military. Unlike the presidential candidates, they did not interrupt each other, raise their voices, make faces or accuse each other of misleading the audience.

Moderator Bernie Shaw of CNN questioned them on issues that did not come up at the presidential debate: racial profiling, pay equity for women, gay rights and assumptions both sides are making about the size of the federal surplus.

Shaw began with the surplus question, as both sides’ agendas assume a federal surplus of more than $4 trillion ("extra money" as Bush likes to say) over the next ten years.

Neither Lieberman nor Cheney could acknowledge any problem because without those assumptions, Bush’s tax cut and Gore’s debt reduction plan, as well as his plan for creating a Medicare prescription drug benefit, are toast.

So Lieberman cited the $300 billion cushion the Democrats call a "reserve fund" as evidence that they’re not going to bust the bank. And Cheney said, "While it may be a little risky in some respects from an economic standpoint to try to forecast surpluses, I think it's – you have to make some planning assumption on which to proceed."

Cheney called education the "single most important issue in this campaign" and said the Republican plan to "test every child, every year" will increase accountability in public schools. Lieberman implied that there would not be many federal dollars available for education in a Bush administration because of the size of the Bush tax cut, which he put at $1.6 trillion, although the Bush team maintains it’s less than that.

They continued the dialogue begun at Bush and Gore’s first presidential debate Tuesday by discrediting each other’s economic plans.

Cheney said the Gore-Lieberman spending promises swamp the surplus by $900 billion. Lieberman countered that the Bush-Cheney spending proposals and Social Security plan will create $1.1 trillion in new debt and result in higher unemployment and higher interest rates, which he called "a kind of stealth tax increase on every American family."

There was more agreement on foreign affairs, with both men supporting the recent developments in Yugoslavia which appear to have driven Slobodan Milosevic from power. Cheney, though, criticized the Clinton-Gore administration’s handling of Iraq, saying, "Our posture vis-a-vis Iraq is weaker than it was at the end of the war." (Cheney was secretary of defense during the Persian Gulf War.)

Lieberman reminded the audience that he and then-Sen. Gore were two of only ten Democrats who supported President Bush on the Persian Gulf War. Lieberman boasted of his record of working with Republicans several times, dropping Bob Dole and John McCain’s names.

But the veeps-in-waiting disagreed about the preparedness of the U.S. military.

Cheney said the armed forces are "overcommitted and under-resourced" and warned, "We will suffer more casualties in the next conflict" if the services don’t start buying more new weapons and equipment. Lieberman countered, "Person by person, unit by unit, this is the most powerful and effective military not only in the world today, but in the history of the world."

Shaw asked them about racial profiling – they’re against it – and whether gays and lesbians should have "all the constitutional rights enjoyed by every American citizen." Both candidates treated that as a question about same-sex unions, or gay marriage.

Lieberman said "my mind is open" to looking at ways to help homosexual partners get some legal protections in areas like health care benefits and inheritance "while respecting the traditional religious and civil institution of marriage."

Cheney, whose adult daughter lives openly as a lesbian, said "I don't think there should necessarily be a federal policy in this area. I try to be open-minded about it as much as I can and tolerant of those relationships."

Asked about RU-486, the so-called "abortion drug" recently approved by the FDA, and a bill drafted in Congress to enforce limits on its use, Cheney said he was not familiar with the bill. Lieberman said he would "not support legislation to override the FDA decision."

Despite the combatants’ understated style, there was a flash of humor.

Boasting about the economic expansion of the Clinton-Gore years, Lieberman said that “I think if you asked most people in America today that famous question that Ronald Reagan asked, 'Are you better off today than you were eight years ago?' most people would say, 'Yes.'"

Then he noted facetiously that Cheney is much better off than he was eight years ago, a reference to the $35 million golden parachute Cheney received when he resigned as CEO of an oil exploration company to join the Bush ticket.

Looking into the audience, Lieberman said, "I can see my wife, and I think she's thinking, 'Gee, I wish he would go out into the private sector.'"

Cheney shot back, "Well, I'm going to try to help you do that, Joe."

Surprisingly, Lieberman never mentioned Cheney’s voting record in Congress. The day Cheney was named as Bush’s running mate, gleeful Democrats held press conferences to shine a light on his conservative voting record, including doozies like opposing bans on armor-piercing "cop killer" bullets and plastic guns that evade detection by airport security systems. Cheney also voted against the Equal Rights Amendment and against funding Head Start, and supported prohibitions on abortion with no exceptions for rape or incest. None of that came up Thursday night.

Overnight ratings showed that some 25 million people watchd the debate on network television. Those figures did not include those who tuned in via cable television.