Judd Gregg: Debate prep and being Al Gore

“Judd,” Ed Fuelner, the then-president of the Heritage Foundation, said, “How would you like to be Al Gore?”  

I thought for a minute — it may have actually been less time — and responded, “I really don’t want to be Al Gore.”

“No,” Ed continued. “I mean how would you like to play Al Gore in preparing Jack Kemp for the debate?”

Jack Kemp at that time — 1996 — was the vice presidential running mate of GOP nominee Bob Dole. Al Gore was the sitting vice president, slated to debate Kemp two weeks later in St Petersburg, Fla. Why they chose me to stand in for Al Gore, I do not know — maybe they were going for boring. But in any event, I agreed.

I was immediately deluged with videotapes and audiotapes filled with Al’s speeches and debates. Over the next week, I studied my new character, trying to mimic his persona — often putting myself to sleep.

The prep sessions took place at a hotel somewhere in North Miami Beach. It was a hotel designed for senior citizens. It proudly advertised that it had a buffet with over 100 different items. It failed to mention that they were all some form of macaroni. 

While prepping, I kept telling myself that, for Jack Kemp, outshining Al Gore should be simple. Jack was one of the most effusive, irrepressible, and energized leaders in American politics at the time. He did a great deal of creative thinking on how to make people’s lives better, especially low-income people, through using conservative ideas. He was full of himself, but in an enjoyable and lovable way. 

He once came up to me on the floor of the House and said, “Tell me a four-letter word for correcting our fiscal problems.” 

I thought for a moment and said, “Kemp.”

“No,” Kemp replied, “gold, GOLD!”    

Actually “Kemp” was a better answer.

{mosads}Jack excelled at everything he undertook. Defeat was not in his vocabulary. A star quarterback in both college and the pros, he once shattered his middle finger and told the surgeon to fuse the mangled joint at an angle so he could still throw the football. Irrepressible.

Despite his strength of character, Jack did have one problem: He was not concise. He needed several minutes of preamble to begin discussing a simple idea. Unfortunately, responses in a televised debate are limited to no more than a minute or two. This was a problem.

Jack and I began the debate prep in the basement room of the senior citizens’ hotel. The practice debate was set to last 90 minutes, the same time as the real debate would run. Playing Al Gore, I attacked Jack for his views on taxes. I attacked him for his views on education. I attacked him for his views on gold. And I especially attacked him for his views on the environment.

Thirty minutes into the effort, Jack still had not completed a sentence or a thought. This two-minute drill was not working and “Al Gore’s” attacks appeared to be getting under his skin.   

Jack stopped the debate prep, took his fused middle finger, raised it in the air, directed it at me and walked off the stage. I thought to myself,  “Now that might be only thing he could do to win this debate.”

Unfortunately, Gore destroyed Kemp in the debate — or to be more precise Kemp destroyed Kemp in the debate. He simply needed a great deal more time than was allowed to respond to Gore.

Regrettably, as Jack was a gentleman, he kept his fused finger in his pocket.

I learned some things from this exercise and a great deal more when I played both Gore and John Kerry in the debate prep process for President George W. Bush. 

Presidential debates are usually not about policy unless one of the participants makes a large mistake. Presidential debates are about connecting with the audience, the American people, in a way that makes them like the candidate. They want to believe that the candidate is a leader they can look up to and trust, and who will lead the nation in a positive direction.

Success therefore depends not so much on the responses to the questions as on the manner in which the candidate handles himself or herself.

It will be interesting to see if either Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump can reach that bar. If either does, they will win the debate, and probably this election.

Judd Gregg (R) is a former governor and three-term senator from New Hampshire who served as chairman and ranking member of the Senate Budget Committee, and as ranking member of the Senate Appropriations Foreign Operations subcommittee.