How we got them, and what they mean

Presidential debates are a modern television age creation. The nominees of the two major parties did not debate until 1960, when Republican Vice President Richard Nixon faced John Kennedy, the junior Democratic Senator from Massachusetts. Although the 1960 debates were popular with the public and broadcast nationally on network television, presidential debates took a hiatus until 1976. Their absence is due, for the most part, to incumbents refusing to debate and federal communications laws which required equal time for all presidential candidates, even minor ones.

Since 1976, debates have played an important role in presidential campaigns. Debates can rarely change the momentum of a campaign, but they can help candidates exploit an opponent's weakness, help deflect attacks, and provide a national audience some new ideas.

In 1976, Jimmy Carter benefited when President Ford stated, "There is no Soviet domination of Eastern Europe." The press played up Ford's remark as a major blunder, and many analysts thought it helped Carter win the election.

The 1980 debates allowed Ronald Reagan to present himself as a moderate and humorous candidate -- shedding criticism by President Carter that he was conservative to the extreme. Reagan also used the first debate to outline his agenda to a national audience. (Carter skipped the first debate because independent candidate John Anderson participated.) Many political scientists believe Reagan could not have won the election without the debates.

In 1984 Reagan again used humor to allay fears that he was too old to be president: "I will not make age an issue in this campaign. I am not going to exploit, for political purposes, my opponent's youth and inexperience." That remark drew a hearty laugh from the audience and from Democratic opponent Walter Mondale, too.

In 1988, Democrat Michael Dukakis cemented his "wooden" image by responding to the question of what he would do if his wife was raped and murdered with a turgid reiteration of his opposition to the death penalty.

In 1992, Bill Clinton worked the new format of a "town hall" to its potential, empathizing with the audience's concern over the economy and health care.

Again, most debate experts agree presidential debates reaffirm people's opinions rather than change them. The debates are very useful for swing voters who, before the debates, have never seen the candidates without some type of a media filter.