San Francisco Examiner: Gearing up for debates

San Francisco Examiner: Gearing up for debates

"On paper, Kerry would seem to have just the right resume to thwack the president in this type of setting.But his greatest weakness, in the view of political scientist Bruce Buchanan, is 'getting tangled up in qualifying locutions of one sort or another. No clear, clean expository lines. Too many qualifications. Too many embellishments. Not enough editing.'

The president, by contrast, is rarely accused of offering too much information. He is militantly 'on message,' often repeating a few set points over and over."