With events in the Middle East and Yugoslavia dominating headlines, foreign policy was expected to be a major issue in the second presidential debate between Vice-President Al Gore and Governor George Bush.
The Gore campaign hoped that this would play to the Vice-President's advantage because of his wider experience after eight years as number two in the White House.
In the first debate he was judged to have displayed a surer touch on foreign policy when the subject was briefly discussed.
Mr Gore was seen to have won in post-debate polls but since then his ratings in the opinion polls have dipped and Mr Bush has pulled ahead by a small margin.
This swing has been attributed to negative reaction by viewers and the media to Mr Gore's sighing and grimacing when Mr Bush was speaking and to later revelations that he had exaggerated his role in some incidents or gave wrong facts.
Before last night's debate, Mr Gore was made by his staff to look at a TV show parody of himself and Mr Bush debating each other to help him avoid irritating mannerisms.
Mr Gore has been telling interviewers this week that "I'll do my best to get the details right and I'll also be sighing a little bit less". He has also been rehearsing with a speech coach.
The debate venue was Wake Forest University in North Carolina which was also the site for the debate between Mr Bush's father and his Democratic opponent, Governor Michael Dukakis, in 1988.
Unlike in the first debate in Boston last week where the candidates stood behind lecterns, this time the format was less formal and the two men were to sit near each other at a semi-circular table facing the same moderator, Mr Jim Lehrer, presenter of Newshour. This is the kind of format Mr Bush prefers.
The latest CNN/USA Today tracking poll shows Mr Bush leading Mr Gore by 47 to 44 percentage points.
The new Washington Post ABC News poll has Mr Gore leading by 48 to 45 points but in both cases the results are within the margin of error and are seen as a dead heat.
The second Gore, Bush presidential debate is available on The Irish Times US Election 2000 web site at: http://www.ireland.com/special /us-elections