Wednesday June 3rd marked the second of a series in unprecedented Presidential debates carried by Iran's national news network. Ahmadinejad and Mousavi spoke to each other formally and respectfully while they both tried to portray the other according to their own campaign scripts. The candidates spoke on various issues for ten minutes at a time.The first debate last night was a battle of the likely second tier candidates Karroubi and Rezai.
Unfortunately these YouTube postings do not have English translations but you can get an idea of the civility of the exchange:
In general, Ahmadinejad tried to put forth the idea that the current problems in Iran resulted not entirely from his tenure as President, but from Khatami's eight years and the years of Rafsanjani before him. This position arises from the constant attacks that have been made recently by Khatami most prolifically, and from Rafsanjaini as well, on Ahmadinejad's Presidency. Ahmadinejad tried to portray the current campaign, including last night's debate as a non-stop attack on his regime. He specifically characterized the election as a three against one contest.
Mousavi countered most convincingly that Ahmadinejad's fiery rhetoric does not match his actions and that the end result has made him look foolish. More importantly however, he made the clear connection that when the President of Iran looks foolish, Iran looks foolish. He cited example after example where Ahmadinejad made rhetorical flourishes that ultimately were backed up by nothing, and caused a lack of respect to be cast upon Iran by the world. He specifically brought up Ahmadinejad's Holocaust statements and how stupid they made Iran look in the eyes of the world.
Mousavi definitely has a clear campaign strategy, and the debate reflected his cool demeanor while Ahmadinejad came off as trying to play the victim. It still remains to be seen how this will influence the electorate, however, as Ahmadinejad's base is the Poor and there remains the possibility that the victim/underdog role will continue to compel them to support him. Recent polls definitely show the race to be tightening.
Here is an article written on the debate from Bloomberg