Bush, Gore Agree on Debates

W A S H I N G T O N, Sept. 15 -- After a two-week standoff that has apparently changed nothing, candidates George W. Bush and Al Gore have agreed to three presidential debates.

After meeting behind closed doors Thursday with officials from the Commission on Presidential Debates, advisers to Bush and Gore agreed the candidates would square off in the three forums originally proposed by the bipartisan commission. Their running mates will face off in one debate.

“We are very pleased that the campaigns have agreed to these plans,” commission co-chairmen Frank J. Fahrenkopf, Jr. and Paul G. Kirk, Jr., said in a statement. “The American public can look forward to four substantive discussions of the issues central to this general election.”

Bush and Gore will first share a stage on Oct. 3 at the University of Massachusetts in Boston. Next, they will square off on Oct. 11 at Wake Forest University in Winston Salem, N.C. and Oct. 17 at Washington University in St. Louis. Vice-presidential candidates Dick Cheney and Joe Lieberman will face each other Oct. 5 at Centre College in Danville, Ky.

Differences Remain

Although both camps agreed to the 90-minute length originally set by the commission for each event, the exact format of the debates remains under discussion.

Bush spokeswoman Karen Hughes said the campaign would push for the “free-flowing and unstructured” format favored by the candidate in a follow-up meeting on Friday.

Earlier this month, the Republican candidate agreed to only one of the commission-sponsored events and proposed two other 60-minute forums on TV talk shows. The Gore camp, which had already accepted all three of the commission’s debates, rejected the Bush proposal.

Hughes denied Bush was backing down by agreeing to the commission’s schedule and chastised Gore for challenging Bush to debate “anytime, anywhere” and then refusing to agree to the two talk show forums proposed by Bush.