Morning Show Wrap - 10/06/04

ByABC News

October 7, 2004, 4:36 PM

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HAVE CHENEY AND EDWARDS MET BEFORE:

On "Fox and Friends," Cate Edwards said that her mother told the Vice President, "You've met him before. You met him and me at the prayer breakfast in 2001." Cheney responded by saying: "Oh, yeah," according to Cate Edwards. "That wasn't truthful and my mom certainly was not afraid to let him know that that was not the truth."

On CNN, Liz Cheney was asked about her father saying the two men had never met when the tape shows the two men together. "If, in fact, they did meet, it did not leave much of an impression," she said. "It just proves a point. It's evidence that what my dad is saying is exactly right."

On CNN, Cate Edwards said that her mom went up to Vice President Cheney after the debate and said: "Vice President, are you kidding me? You met me and John at the prayer breakfast in 2001 and at Liddy Dole's swearing in." "Oh, yeah," Cheney said in response, according to Cate Edwards.

On "Today," Tim Russert said of Cheney's assertion that he and Edwards had not met before, "It's not true." Russert said the two men met on April 8, 2001 when they both were guests on "Meet the Press." "They stopped and shook hands," according to Russert. "I thought John Edwards would call him on it right then," Russert said. Cheney clearly wanted to leave the impression that Edwards was a young man in a hurry, Russert said.

ABC's George Stephanopoulos said we need to look beneath the ABC poll since more Republicans watched the debate and were polled afterwards. At the same time, Stephanopoulos noted that Cheney did a little bit better with Republicans than Edwards did with Democrats. Stephanopoulos said Cheney needed to rally Republicans coming off of Bush's debate performance last week and that Edwards needed to show he could be "tough without tarnishing his image." Stephanopoulos thought that both men did what they needed to do.

On NBC's "Today," Tim Russert said both men "did what they had to do last night" and that this "freezes the race until Friday." "I don't think we will see much change in the polls until Friday," he said. He saw Cheney's task as seizing Kerry's momentum and Edwards' task as measuring up as a viable VP. Russert said Kerry's challenge is to "lay out a coherent vision that is consistent with his votes." Russert: added that it would have been easier for Kerry to vote against authorization and then for the funding. It would be easier to defend intellectually, he said.

On CBS' Early Show, Craig Crawford says we did not see anything new last night, and adds they are holding to their pattern. Republicans were worried enough to have the President's speech today focus on the war on terrorism. Shows SOT of Cheney calling Edwards the absent Senator. Crawford says this was the one thing Democrats worried might diminish Edwards. In the CBS poll question of who was a more likeable candidate, 76% said Edwards, 53% were for Cheney.

CBS' John Roberts reported that "most analysts agree: the fact that John Edwards wasn't flattened last night, places even more emphasis on Friday's presidential debate."

On "Fox and Friends," Bill Sammon of the Washington Times said it looks like Cheney won this debate which goes a long way to slowing the momentum of the Democrats and sets up Bush very nicely for Friday. Eleanor Clift disagreed, saying she thought yesterday's debate "freezes the race" and that Cheney doesn't set up Bush particularly well Cheney came off, once again, looking like the real president.

On Imus, Chris Matthews praised the way Cheney, a hawk with an "itchy trigger finger" who will "always go for the worst case," manages to look "moderate" and "reasonable." Pat Buchanan gave the edge to Cheney on the basis of his "gravitas and weight and toughness." Buchanan asked: "Which of these two men would you want to take over at that moment?"

On Fox, Ann Coulter dismissed Edwards' concerns about tax rates soldiers are paying in Iraq and argued that when those soldiers return to the United States and they are trying to become multi-millionaires like Ter-ESA, they will not be able to if Kerry is President because the Democrats support "confiscatory" levels of taxation.

CNN's Carlos Watson judges Edwards' performance and gives him an "A-."

DR. PHIL TAKES CENTER STAGE AGAIN:

On ABC, Dr. Phil discussed his recent interviews with both President Bush and Sen. John Kerry. He highlighted the advice the President gave his daughter after she stuck out her tongue. "You are in a fishbowl. Every move you make, especially when you are with me, is going to be recorded."

Dr. Phil discussed Kerry's efforts to make sure his daughters knew their lives were not going to change after he divorced their mother.

Dr. Phil praised Teresa Heinz Kerry as "very spontaneous" and someone with a "great sense of humor" who was "warm and endearing."

Just as he did last night, NBC's Brian Williams highlighted two incorrect statements: Cheney saying he never suggested there was a connection between Iraq and Al Qaeda and Edwards saying that Halliburton was awarded a no-bid contract.