"Honest Abe" John Kerry challenges GW to Lincoln-Douglas location debates.
*What did I tell you about the Lincoln thing?
Kerry Seeks Bush Debates at Historic Site
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By MIKE GLOVER, Associated Press Writer
QUINCY, Ill. - In the city that saw a historic 19th century debate, John Kerry (news - web sites) called for monthly debates with President Bush (news - web sites) to elevate the tenor of a campaign that's opened with a relentlessly negative tone.
"Surely, if the attack ads can start now, at least we can agree to start a real discussion about America's future," said Kerry, speaking Saturday to about 500 people packed into a school gymnasium.
"America shouldn't have to put up with eight months of sniping," said Kerry. "We need to get off that detour and back into the true path of democracy."
Kerry put a lock on the Democratic presidential nomination Saturday as he reached the 2162 delegates needed to become the party's candidate to take on Bush, according to a delegate tally by The Associated Press. He did it by picking up the last 162 he needed through superdelegate endorsements and pledges to vote for him at the convention and then padded it with 32 won in the Kansas caucuses.
Though eight months remain until the presidential election, Bush has launched an attack ad campaign bashing Kerry, and Kerry has fired back with a campaign of his own. For months, Kerry has bashed Bush as he campaigned against his rivals for the Democratic presidential nomination.
"We confront big issues — as big as any in our history — and they call for a new and historic commitment to a real and informed exchange of ideas," said Kerry. He argued that "2004 can't be just another year of politics as usual."
Kerry made his call in Quincy, the largest city to host the 1858 series of debates between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas during a Senate campaign eventually won by Douglas. On Oct. 13 of that year, 20,000 people gathered at Quincy to hear the sixth of what would be seven debates between the two men.
"Both candidates laid out their positions plainly and honestly," said Kerry. "They clashed but over differences in policy, not personal attacks."
Kerry argued the Lincoln-Douglas debates included "sharp exchanges, but they were a serious, honest discussion of important questions of the day, sparking enormous public interest." |
