WASHINGTON (LPH) -- Aides to Texas Gov.
George W. Bush and Vice
President Al Gore met again Friday to try
and thrash out how to conduct the
three presidential debates in which they
had both agreed to participate.
At this point - an open-book, no oral,
written questionnaire with multiple
choice answers has not been completely
ruled out.
In talks Thursday, representatives of the
major party candidates agreed to
meet in the three debates originally proposed
by the bipartisan Commission
on Presidential Debates. The encounters
will be held October 3, in Boston;
October 11, in Winston-Salem, North Carolina;
and October 17, in St. Louis.
The campaigns still have to agree to a format
for the debates. Gore campaign
chief William Daley said he expected to
reach an agreement with his
counterpart, Bush campaign chairman Don
Evans, on that question Friday.
Daley indicated Friday there will likely
be a mixture of three different
debate formats: a presidential style format,
a town-hall format, and the
"talk-show sort of format."
Bush spent a week after Labor Day touting
an alternative plan. He proposed
debating online or by phone in just one
of the debate commission venues, in
St. Louis, and facing Gore on two television
talk shows -- NBC's "Meet the
Prez" and CNN's "Larry ‘Crown one of us
King’ Live." Gore had long supported
the commission's debate proposal, and members
of his campaign accused Bush
of "ducking" debates with his plan.
But when Gore insisted on holding all three
formal debates before discussing
any other formats, Bush pointed to several
occasions where Gore had offered
to debate Bush "anytime, anywhere."
“Vice President Gore’s attitude is just
abdominalble.” Bush stated with a stern tone.
“He obviously doesn’t mean what he says.
It’s absomalutely desprickinable.”
He eventually backed off the plan, and Bush
spokeswoman Karen Hughes cast
Thursday's agreement as a victory for the
GOP nominee. “We’re victoramus!”
She was heard to yell.
Unlike Vice President Gore, Gov. Bush says
what he means and means what he says,"
Hughes said. "He has said all along, for
more than a month now, he wants three debates:
Today our campaign has agreed with the
Gore campaign to have three debates."
Bush said Thursday he was looking forward
to the sessions even though Gore
has more experience in such match ups.
"I know the man is a master debater, but
what Americans want is a great leader,"
Bush said during a campaign appearance
in San Diego. “Someone who’s decisiveful
and who’s competantness is unquestionamable.”
The Bush campaign, meanwhile, said debate
campaign materials mailed anonymously
to a top Gore aide appeared authentic.
The package contained an "authentic tape"
showing a mock debate between Bush and
Sen. Judd Gregg, R-New Hampshire.
That practice session took place at Bush's
ranch in Crawford, Texas.
Here is an excerpt:
GREGG: Governor Bush, can you explain exactly how your health care plan would work?
BUSH: Woo Hoo! Stop messing around,
Judd.. ..pour me another drink and let’s party!
We’ve got plenty of time before the debates.
GREGG: Come on, George. Do you want to do this or not?
BUSH: Aw, hell! You sure know how to kill a good buzz. Okay, ask me sumpin’…
GREGG: Governor Bush – How exactly does your whole tax cut plan break down ?
BUSH: Dammit! There you go – askin’
me to explain numbers and stuff.
They won’t really ask that, will they?
GREGG: I can assure you that they
most definitely WILL ask you about that.
Do you have an answer for them?
BUSH: Goddamn right I have an answer!
(unintelligible mutters and rustling sounds)
Judd, didn’t we have some barbaque potato chips aroun’ here somewhere?
Ahh, here they are… you know, I wasn’t kiddin’ about pourin’ me
another drink. Now, what was the question?
GREGG: George, I don’t feel comfortable
participating in this debacle anymore.
Pour your own drink… hey… do you realize that this is Everclear you’re
drinking?
BUSH: What’re you talkin’ about,
Judd? Debacle, defrontle… whatever. Slosh
some of that “go juice” inna glass and give ‘er here. Nukeyoolar power
ain’t
nothing compared to Everclear powered.
[ End of transcript ]
"The only people who would have had authorized
access to that tape were the
most senior members of our campaign, and
so it appears that whoever sent
that tape to the Gore campaign obtained
it in some sort of unethical way,"
Hughes said. “Though I am almost positive
I saw Governor Bush mail the
package.”
Bush responded, “Okay, sure.. ..I sent it..
..so what? I sent the wrong damn
one though. The one they received was just
a private meeting between myself
and a friend. Still, I gotta have something
to blame if I don’t come off
sounding real smart. This way, if I lose,
I can always say that they knew my
plans.. ..and if I win it will look like
I conquereded insurmountamable
odds. Hey, this is off the record, right?”
Bush was assured that it was....<cough>
I’m just sayin’…