Critics of this year’s presidential campaign predicted that Thursday night’s final debate between Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis and Vice President George Bush would be crucial to both candidates’ campaigns.

Pre-debate coverage on four major network news stations had Bush entering the debate with a definite edge over Dukakis in the electoral college, with about 30 percent of the total votes in the college undecided. It was predicted that Dukakis would have to “deliver a knockout” and Bush would have to present a “kinder” image in order to sway the margin of undecided voters.

However, on-campus reactions to the debate indicated that nothing much had changed. Most people who watched the televised debate in the Holmes Student Center believed Dukakis and Bush walked off-stage in a “toss-up.”

Robert Tyree, who was one of the student center crowd of about 50 people, said, “There wasn’t a single position that surprised me. No one came out any different.”

NIU political science Professor Kevin McKeough said he believed the candidates were “reinforcing standard assertions and standard lines used throughout the campaign.”

NIU graduate assistant debate coach Ann Chaney said that, basing her judgment soley on image, she believes Bush came out of the debate with a slight edge over Dukakis.

Chaney, who said she believes Dukakis won the first debate last month, said, “I would have to give this one to Bush, with Dukakis just behind.”

Chaney said she did not believe Dukakis seemed as confident as he did in the first debate and that it might have had something to do with the pressure placed on him coming into last night’s coverage.

However, McKeough said he believed Dukakis came out the winner. He added that despite the fact Bush has consultants with more than 20 years of national political campaign experience behind them, Dukakis made a better showing with a more substantial and intellectual stand on the issues.

“Bush had a tendency to ‘tap-dance,’ for example, around the issue of abortion,” McKeough said, whereas Dukakis was “consistent and upfront” on the abortion issue.

Much of the criticism falling on this year’s campaign has been that it is a campaign of images rather than issues, and some of last night’s viewers said they felt the debate was more like a press-conference and a mere “reiteration of canned responses.”

Chaney said she believed the presidential debates are formatted in such a way that they “limit the ability of the American public to make a decision” based on something other than a candidate’s image.

Chaney explained some of the problem stems from the time limit placed on candidates’ responses and rebuttals.

“A one-minute rebuttal is not adequate time for refutation,” Chaney said. “And there is no time for the other candidate to respond to that rebuttal.”

Chaney said it is the candidates’ inability to respond and to discuss issues more freely that leaves the audience almost unable to choose a winner. The American public “has almost no choice but to vote for an image.”