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AUDIENCE CAUGHT IN ELECTION-YEAR CROSSFIRE

BY DEBRA HAZEL

A tiny percentage of undecided voters will determine the outcome of an extremely tight 2004 presidential election, said political pundits Robert Novak and Bill Press during a lunchtime presentation.

But that was just about all they agreed on. The conservative Novak and the liberal Press tangled over topics ranging from the war in Iraq, to the U.S. economy, to running mates for President Bush and Democrat challenger John Kerry.

Novak, a syndicated columnist and regular contributor to CNN’s Crossfire, queried audience members about their own voting plans to reveal that only about 20 in that crowd of thousands were still undecided. That small percentage in the audience reflects the situation in the 15 or so states generally considered to be still up for grabs.

All those “people who can’t decide between Coke and Pepsi will be looking at the debates” to help them determine how to vote, Novak said.

Coke or Pepsi indeed. “One path leads to despair and hopelessness, the other path leads to total annihilation,” said Press, the former co-host of MSNBC’s Buchanan and Press and a former sparring partner of Novak’s on Crossfire, tongue very firmly in cheek. This is one of the most important elections “in my lifetime” and a referendum on the Bush presidency, Press said. “It’s about looking at the guy who’s been working for you for the last three years and asking yourself, ‘Do you want to rehire him?’”

That decision will be based on the war in Iraq, Press said, citing an Associated Press poll that shows 54 percent of Americans think the Iraq war was a mistake. “I think the American people will say like father, like son,” and vote him out of office in November.

Novak said he opposed the Iraq War, but nevertheless disagreed with this election campaign prognosis. He charged that Bush’s greatest asset is, in fact, John Kerry. “He is a gloomy Gus, he is not a likeable person,” Novak said of the latter.

He charged that Kerry has no plan for Iraq and that the election will be decided on the economy — which is improving.

As for the No. 2 slots on both tickets, Press said that Vice President Dick Cheney may not run again alongside Bush. “George W. Bush is loyal, but he wants to be re-elected.”

Novak pooh-poohed the notion. “He is the most influential vice president in my 47 years of reporting on Washington,” Novak said.

On the Democrat side, Novak dismissed any idea that Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton would join the ticket.

“Hillary has her mind set to run for president in 2008,” he said.

Much more likely, Novak said, is Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina.