VICE-PRESIDENT Al Gore emerged as the winner of his debate with his Republican challenger, Mr Jack Kemp, striking a further blow at the faltering presidential campaign of Mr Bob Dole.
Virtually all polls still show Mr Dole trailing President Clinton by double digit figures. The Republican contender's last chance of closing the gap will be the final debate between the candidates next Wednesday in San Diego.
Mr Dole is being urged by many Republican supporters to attack Mr Clinton on the "character" issue rather than concentrating on the economic and foreign policy aspects. The Dole proposal for a 15 per cent across the board income tax cut has not made the expected impact.
Now Mr Dole and Mr Kemp are seen to have lost this week's presidential and vice-presidential debates, although Mr Dole did better than most people expected against the President.
Some 54 per cent now say that Mr Clinton did better than Mr Dole, who gathered only 20 per cent support for his performance. In an instant poll after Wednesday night's debate between Mr Gore and Mr Kemp, 57 per cent said that the vice-president won compared with 28 per cent for Mr Kemp.
This will be all the more disappointing for the Republicans because Mr Kemp concentrated on promoting the 15 per cent tax cut and defending it against the Democrats' charges that it will inflate the deficit and result in cuts in the Medicare and Medicaid health programmes for the elderly.
Mr Kemp may also have wrong-footed Mr Dole as he prepares to take on President Clinton in the final debate. Mr Dole has been dropping hints since Sunday's debate that he may change his mind and attack Mr Clinton on the "character" issue in their final encounter.
But at the start of the vice-presidential debate Mr Kemp turned down an opportunity to attack Mr Clinton's character and added that "it is beneath Bob Dole to go after anyone personally". He said that "these issues will be aired, but they'll be aired with dignity, respect and ultimately leave it to the American people to make up their minds."
Commentators are now wondering if Mr Kemp has not made it impossible for Mr Dole to switch to a more personal attack on the President, as he has been hinting. Mr Dole indicated earlier this week that at next week's debate he would be raising questions about Whitewater and the White House misuse of FBI files. He has also said that he might have some "surprises" for the President when they next meet.
The Gore-Kemp duel never looked like turning nasty and some people in the audience in St Petersburg, Florida, were observed having their eyes shut as the two men argued over the economy and the environment.
The debate was seen as also a pitch by both men for the presidential nomination in 2000. It may be for this reason that Mr Kemp deliberately avoided the role of "hatchet man" for Mr Dole.
Northern Ireland was mentioned only in passing. Praising Mr Clinton's efforts on Bosnia, Mr Gore went on to mention that democracy had been restored in Haiti and that there had been "movement towards reconciliation in Northern Ireland and in the Middle East".