President Bush and Sen. John Kerry addressed a variety of questions from everyday Americans Friday in the second of three presidential debates.

The debate, at Washington University in St. Louis, featured a town-hall format, in which randomly selected audience members, not the moderator, posed questions to the candidates. Participating audience members were voters selected by the Gallup organization.

The questions covered a gamut of issues, including the candidates' approach to picking Supreme Court justices; stem-cell research; prescription drugs from Canada; and abortion. Several questions probed the president and his challenger on their policy toward the war against terrorism and the ongoing conflict in Iraq.

Kerry climbed in many public opinion polls after the first debate, cutting the president's lead and leaving the candidates in a tight race. The debate Friday night follows Tuesday's face-off between Vice President Dick Cheney and Kerry's running mate, Sen. John Edwards.

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