Political Science professor Jeff Berry:
"The most important impact of the debates was that it raised the stature of John Kerry and helped to pull him even in the polling that's been done since the first debate."
"Campaign attacks are part of American politics, it goes way back and I'm not sure it's been any more gruesome than it usually is. Voters clearly, if you ask them, say they don't like it, but there's plenty of evidence that it works on the sub-presidential level where candidates are not as well known. On a presidential level, the candidates are better known and people are able to make up their minds apart from TV commercials. That said, both have been tarnished by negative campaigns, Kerry more than Bush. The Bush campaign painted Kerry as a flip-flopper beyond any inconsistency there is in his record."
"[General election strategy is] more of the same. The Bush campaign has emphasized throughout what they regard as the president's superior leadership qualities. They're going to continue to push that along with the specter of terror. The Kerry campaign will continue to emphasize failings on the part of the president's Iraq war planning and the poor performance of the nation's economy."
"I think that in the campaign there is a wide enough berth to discuss more than one issue, and its not surprising that when there are Americans fighting and dying more focus is on that."
Dean Jim Glaser
"There was post-debate fall-out from all three debates, but I don't think from the last debate on its own. The three debates together worked to bring Kerry back to competition. As a package, the debates made the democratic ticket more credible against the Republican campaign. They turned this back into a contest."
"[Personal attacks] are always strong, you can go back 40 years or a 100 years and find nasty, negative attacks, but somehow every year we forget. Also, here in Massachusetts we don't see the ads, so this is all from what I've heard and what I've read."
"Usually the closing weeks are generally more positive, so that's certainly within the realm of the possible."
"[In the next week] I'd keep an eye on the polls, look at likely voter screens, because they're different in every poll. Some movement does happen at the very end. In 2000 Al Gore was behind by four points, but he did end up winning the majority of the popular vote. He did end up benefiting by movement in the past few days. Undecided voters have to decide at some point, or else, stay home."
