In My Time - Dick Cheney [147]
By this time we knew that Lieberman and I would be seated at a round table on the debate stage, and we looked around for some place in Jackson where we could replicate this setup. We settled on the Jackson Hole Playhouse, which not only offered a table and a stage, but came with red velvet curtains and a saloon out front. Photos from one of our practice sessions show a backdrop of branches and vines from the previous evening’s performance, and Phil and Rob Portman clowning around in top hats they’d found backstage.
Security is a big issue in presidential and vice presidential debates. While we were getting set up at the Jackson Hole Playhouse, we learned that a staffer working for Mark McKinnon in the Bush debate prep sessions had sent a copy of the governor’s briefing book and a tape of one of his practice sessions to a member of Gore’s debate team. The materials were immediately turned over to the FBI, but the incident underlined how important it was to be vigilant. Debate preparation sessions already showed up on my schedule as “communications meetings.” And the briefing book full of issues and potential questions and answers was neutrally labeled “Secretary Cheney Policy Book.” But the Jackson Hole Playhouse, for all its charm, turned out to be a less than secure location. Several reporters, pretending to be tourists who wanted to look around, stopped by the theater one day just before a debate rehearsal began. Fortunately, Liz happened to be in the lobby and was able to send them packing. But after that we decided to relocate and ended up holding most of the practice sessions in our living room, using a rented round table covered with a bedsheet.
The effort that we put into debate preparation was critically important. But if I had to give one piece of advice to future presidential and vice presidential candidates preparing for debates, it would be this: Get some rest. Once you’ve gone over the issues and know what message you want to convey to the voters, you can do yourself a real favor by just taking a nap. You’ve got to be relaxed—or at least look like you are—when the moment comes. I think voters figure out pretty quickly that if you can’t handle the stress of a political debate, you’re not going to be much good in an actual crisis.
Of course, one of my favorite ways to unwind is with a fly rod, and there is no better place to do that than on one of Wyoming’s beautiful rivers.
The most effective way to prepare for a debate - fishing the Snake River in Wyoming.(Official White House Photo/David Bohrer)
Thus it was that I was sitting in a drift boat on the Snake River when I got a call asking if I would accept CNN anchor Bernard Shaw as the moderator for our debate. I said yes with no hesitation. I knew Bernie to be an honest, objective, hardworking journalist, who would study the issues and ask tough questions of us both. He would forever be associated in my mind with the first night of Desert Storm in 1991—a night that turned out to be a tremendous success for the U.S. military. Like so many others around the world, I had watched Bernie broadcasting live from a hotel in downtown Baghdad on January 16 just as the first U.S. air strikes began.
On the final Sunday before my debate, we attended church at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Jackson. As I slid into the pew next to my family, I saw quite a few members of my debate prep team scattered throughout the congregation. I am sure that they, like me, figured a prayer or two couldn’t hurt.
Suzanne Harris was in the pulpit that morning. Her granddaughter was battling leukemia, and we were all moved as Reverend Harris talked about three-year-old Hannah’s strength and courage, beyond what any child should ever have to demonstrate. She talked about what Hannah’s life taught about faith—“Our faith is not that bad things won’t happen,” she said. “Our faith