Presidential Debates Under Discussion

Aug. 21 -- Al Gore and George W. Bush both say they want to debate each other this fall, but remain at odds over when, where, and under what circumstances.

Appearing on ABCNEWS’ Good Morning America today, Gore, the Democratic nominee, said he favored taking part in the three debates already scheduled by the bipartisan Commission on Presidential Debates.

“I think where the debates are concerned, the first step has to be for Governor Bush to accept the official national commission debates,” Gore said. “We’ve come to expect, as Americans, at least three prime-time debates set up by a bipartisan commission. And I’ve accepted those, of course, automatically, and he hasn’t accepted those yet.”

Speaking to reporters in Austin, Texas, this morning before flying to the Midwest for a day of campaigning, Bush said he would participate in debates with Gore, but indicated he was keeping his options open about which ones he would consider.

“I think I’d like to do is have debates … where people get a sense for what we both believe, that’s structured so both of us are to share our ideas in a way that people will listen to,” the Republican nominee said.

Last Thursday, the Bush campaign announced the Texas governor “will participate in three presidential debates this fall.”

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But little else has been resolved. Bush has so far not committed to the debates planned by the bipartisan commission, which were arranged in January and are supposed to take place in October.

“We’re going to be considering all our options,” the Bush campaign’s director of communications, Karen Hughes, said on ABCNEWS’ This Week Sunday morning. “We have about 42 invitations.”

But members of the Gore campaign say Bush is reluctant to debate and is trying to avoid the commission’s proposed events.

“George Bush wants to engineer these debates so the fewest number of people see them,” Gore adviser Bob Shrum said on This Week. “He wants to pick and choose instead of doing the commission debates, which for over 20 years have been the debates.”