JIM LEHRER: The second and last Bush/Dukakis debate draws most of our attention tonight. The two candidates for President answered questions and rebutted each other for 90 nationally televised minutes last night from Los Angeles. Going in, many pundits said it had the prospect of deciding the election. Coming out today, many pundits said it has, in fact, done so. We examine the analytical premise from several angles tonight, beginning with that of the candidates, themselves. Vice President Bush rendered his judgment on the debate in his first speech of the day to a rally in Surritos, California.

VICE PRESIDENT GEORGE BUSH, GOP Presidential Candidate: Well, I'm glad that that last debate is over. And now we have three weeks to take our case to the American people in rallies like this and in events all over this country. And I mean to run hard, to campaign hard, to stand on the issues, and I mean to win this election on November 8th. I'm glad we can wage an upbeat campaign about America. I'd hate to be dragging myself around this country trying to convince the American people that everything is bad. It isn't. A lot of things are good about our country in this recovery, and I want to keep the expansion going until every man and woman that wants a job has a job.

I have been spelling out the profound differences between us, between me and my opponent, because I feel that the American people have a right to know, and those differences get to the core values, values like family, faith, and freedom, love and country, the security of the United States, and most of all, hope for a future for this country. We had a chance last night to spell it out. I don't think the working men and women in this country are taxed too little. I think Washington spends too much, and I am asking the American people to give the President what 43 Governors have, give the President the line item veto and let him have a chance to control spending. I do believe in a growing America, that we are a moral, good nation that is the light of the world.

And there are two men now asking for your vote three and a half weeks from today, but only one of them shares your hopes, the values of the people that are here today in Surritos, the values of plain, ordinary Americans. Only one who has the experience in dealing with foreign leaders, the commitment to keep America strong, only one is pledged to build a kinder and a gentler nation, an America that remains in Lincoln's words, "the last best hope of man on earth." I am that man and I ask for your support. Thank you all. Thank you and God bless you. Thank you very much.

JIM LEHRER: Gov. Dukakis saw it differently. Here's what he said about the debate. He said it with running mate Lloyd Bentsen at his side on the steps of the California state house in Sacramento.

GOV. MICHAEL DUKAKIS, Dem. Presidential Candidate: Last night we defined what's at stake in this election. George Bush is satisfied. I know we can do better and so do you. George Bush is complacent. We want to move forward. Just think of where we'll be four years from now if we try Mr. Bush's diet of old chestnuts and new baloney and the same old voodoo stew. And think of where we'll be four years from now if the Republicans win this election, a Supreme Court full of Robert Borks -- turning the clock back on civil rights, on the right to privacy, on equal justice and equal opportunity under the law. And think of where we'll be with a war on drugs that's led, if that's the right word, by Dan Quayle.

We can do better than that. We've got to do better than that, because there's a whole new world out there and we Americans are ready to take it on. We're not going to ignore toxic waste sites. We're going to clean 'em up. We're not going to drill for oil off the Coast of North Carolina -- and of Northern California, East Coast and West Coast. We're going to create a marine sanctuary from Big Suhr to the Oregon border -- because Lloyd Bentsen and I want clean air and clean water and clean coasts and a clean government. And that is exactly what we're going to have beginning on January 20, 1989.

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