SUPPORTERS READY FOR NEXT DEBATE

Republicans hope President George Bush comes out swinging harder in tonight's second presidential debate, county Democrats think Gov. Bill Clinton will hold his own, and supporters of independent candidate Ross Perot dourly expect "more of the same" from the two front-runners.

The boxing metaphors were rampant after Tuesday night's vice presidential free-for-all in Atlanta, a lively exchange primarily between Vice President Dan Quayle and U.S. Sen. Al Gore refereed by a single moderator.

Tonight's debate also will be run by a single moderator but with a twist: The questions will come from a pollster-selected audience.

Gov. John Ashcroft, in town Wednesday following a fund-raising luncheon for state senate candidate Peter Kinder, ventured that the campaign has reached the watershed point.

People who have been "voting on the economy" will make a decision in the next three weeks based on the quality of leadership they want, he said.

"I think the president needs to get the truth across in the debates. I think when people really understand what the alternatives are, this president does very well."

U.S. Rep. Bill Emerson, R-Cape Girardeau, thinks Bush needs to "hit a home run" in one of the next two debates, but challenges the polls which show his candidate trailing by double digits.

"I think the national electronic media manipulation in this campaign is the worst I have ever seen," he said.

"...I think the president has got to speak very bluntly and very directly to the American people because his message otherwise is not going to get through."

Both Ashcroft and Emerson thought Vice President Quayle won the debate Tuesday night. Emerson said Gore "seemed so programmed with his elitist left-wing message, he came across to me very much like a Dan Rather."

County Democrats contacted must not have seen the same program. They said Gore's performance was at least as good as the vice president's, but didn't like the attacking and interrupting style both candidates employed at times.

"At times it got out of hand," said County Clerk Rodney Miller.

He didn't think James Stockdale, Perot's running mate, "was very actively involved."

Tonight, Miller expects Bush to attack Clinton on the question of character, as he did in the first debate.

"There seems to be an innuendo," he said. "But there's just as much (Clinton) can ask President Bush about character."

Perot, he said, at least has pointed out to the American public that the presidential race seems to have become a struggle for power. "If the point is strictly gaining power, I think we're missing the issues," he said.

Orval Thorne, Democratic candidate for county assessor, hopes the issues get discussed tonight, too. "I really don't think this bashing gets anybody anywhere," he said.

There are issues and there are issues, says Perot supporter Gil Degenhardt. "I think the issues have been hashed and rehashed, and I don't think they have anything to do with the major challenges we have in this country."

Those challenges are revitalizing the economy and taking a bite out of the national debt, said Degenhardt, who ran for Congress and the general assembly more than 20 years ago on the Republican ticket.

He expects "more of the same" tonight, and contends there is a deliberate attempt to cast the run for the presidency as a two-way race despite "a third party with a very viable position."

"...If we don't cast a vote for (Perot's) position now, we're going to have to eventually," Degenhardt said.

Mary Martin, co-chair of Perot's 8th Congressional District Steering Committee, said she "tuned out Quayle and Gore after they started bickering with each other."

Her wish for tonight: "I hope they start talking about what they're going to do about the economy."

Ralph Ford, chairman of the county Republican Central Committee was as disappointed as some of the others with the vice presidential to-do. "I not sure whether you call that a debate or not," he said.

Along with Emerson, Ford doesn't have much faith in the polls that show Clinton with a big lead.

He hopes Bush comes out swinging tonight, but he doesn't think it's realistic to expect the president to knock out Clinton in the debate.

"I wish I knew what kind of knockout blow you deliver with words," Ford said.