War of the Words

A record number of Americans (at least 90 million) were all ears for the televised debates. Here's what they heard:

Number of times... Debate 1, Debate 2, Debate 3, Total

...Bush said ''character'': 5, 4, 5, 14
...Clinton said ''change'': 14, 10, 9, 33
...Perot mentioned the $4 trillion debt: 4, 3, 1, 8
...Clinton said ''trickle-down'':4, 2, 6, 12
...Bush said ''tax and spend'':7, 1, 3, 11
...Perot said ''the American people'' or ''the people'': 19, 10, 23, 52
...George called Perot ''Ross'': 5, 5, 5, 15
...Perot promoted his TV spots: 0, 6, 4, 10
...Expression ''bully pulpit'' used: 3, 1, 1, 5
...Bush blamed Congress: 7, 7, 11, 25
...Bush invoked Mondale, Dukakis, or Carter: 2, 0, 3 , 5
...The candidates mentioned their running mates: 0, 0, 0, 0