AP News in Brief

Cheney, Edwards back on campaign trail after debate slugout

CLEVELAND (AP) – The hard-hitting debate between Vice President Dick Cheney and Democratic rival John Edwards set the stage for what is likely to be more of the same in Friday’s second televised presidential showdown between their bosses.

Cheney and Edwards slugged it out over Iraq, jobs and each other’s judgment in their one and only debate before heading for the battleground state of Florida and its 27 electoral votes. Cheney was appearing Wednesday in Tallahassee, Edwards in West Palm Beach.

The Bush camp claimed that a strong performance by Cheney in Tuesday’s night’s debate in Cleveland helped break momentum that appeared to be going Kerry’s way after the first presidential debate, while Democrats said Edwards more than held his own.

Both candidates got some encouragement from post-debate polls. Cheney fared best in an ABC News poll of a Republican-leaning group of registered voters who watched the debate, with 43 percent giving Cheney the edge, while 35 percent said Edwards won.

The Democrat was viewed more positively in a poll of 178 undecided voters by CBS News that found more of this crucial group thought he had won, 41 percent, than thought Cheney had won, 28 percent.

The two candidates, seated at a table just a few feet from each other at Case Western Reserve University, tore into each other repeatedly.

Edwards accused the administration of “not being straight with the American people” about conditions in Iraq and of presiding over the biggest job losses since the Depression.

“Your facts are just wrong,” Cheney counterpunched. And at one point, he told Edwards, “Senator, frankly, you have a record in the Senate that’s not very distinguished.”

Edwards, referring to Cheney’s long record of public service, asserted: “One thing that’s very clear is that a long resume does not equal good judgment. I mean, we’ve seen over and over and over the misjudgments made by this administration.”

Oregon universities grappling with student suicides

PORTLAND, Ore. – After a string of student suicides, Oregon universities are examining new ways to get help to students who need it, and protect their campuses against lawsuits if necessary.

Under current policy at the University of Oregon, when a student confesses suicidal thoughts to a roommate, professor or dorm adviser, officials can’t force the student to see a counselor.

But a draft policy, subject to approval by administrators and faculty, would give the university the power to require students who clearly threaten suicide to get help or, failing that, to be removed from school.

“We have seen an upswing in suicides . . . prompting our people to want to be proactive,” said Ben Rawlins, general counsel for the Oregon University System.

At the Oregon Institute of Technology in Klamath Falls, officials recently changed policies. Now, a student who threatens harm to himself can be removed from the Klamath Falls campus unless he allows a medical professional to evaluate him, said Joe Holliday, vice president for student affairs.

OIT has had several suicides in the past two years, Holliday told The Oregonian. He declined to give a total.

College students are far less likely than their nonstudent peers to kill themselves, studies show.

Nevertheless, national mental health groups estimate that nearly 1,100 college students die by suicide each year.

At UO in 2003-04, officials dealt with more students who contemplated suicide or made threats than ever before – about 45 students, according to Robin Holmes, director of the Counseling and Testing Center.

Holmes said she knew of two UO students who killed themselves last year in a student body of 20,000. But no official count exists because not all suicides are reported, or they are reported to different campus departments.