Gore, Bush Prepare for Debate

— -- With their first presidential debate approaching, Al Gore and George W. Bush have been busy preparing for the face-to-face confrontation. But even as both candidates refine their strategies, they are playing down expectations.

By Peter DizikesABCNEWS.com

Oct. 1 — With two days to go before their first presidential debate, Al Gore and George W. Bush are refining their strategies and playing down expectations before their face-to-face confrontation Tuesday in Boston. Vice President Gore is spending a long weekend preparing in Florida — a state he still feels he can win on Nov. 7 — along with advisers and a group of citizens.

Bush, at his ranch in Crawford, Texas, has finished his mock debates and other exercises, and is spending the day relaxing and studying on his own. Meanwhile, the Republican nominee’s advisers have been trying to win the battle of expectations by casting Gore as the clear favorite in the debates.

Bush’s communications director, Karen Hughes, has called Gore a “world-class debater,” while getting in a dig at the entertainment industry’s support of the vice president by saying he will use “the best lines Hollywood can write” in the forum.

But Gore himself has touted Bush’s record in debates, pointing out that the GOP nominee performed well in the Texas gubernatorial debates against former Gov. Ann Richards, and in the Republican primaries against Sen. John McCain of Arizona.

Advantage Gore?

Gore has earned a reputation as a fierce and effective debater in the last several years with performances against former third-party presidential candidate Ross Perot on the North American Free Trade Agreement, and against former Sen. Bill Bradley during the Democratic primary season.

But Gore advisers say their candidate will be primarily trying to connect with the audience instead of just engaging in back-and-forth combat with his opponent.

Gore himself describes the debate as being “kind of like a job interview” in which the American people represent “the ones that are doing the hiring.”

Today and Monday, Gore will hold open sessions in Sarasota, Fla., where he rehearsed for the 1996 vice-presidential debates, with a number of citizens he has met during the course of his campaign and invited to his debate practices.

These include Matt Moseley, a firefighter who rescued a construction worker from a burning building on national television in April 1999, and Winifred Skinner, a senior citizen who told Gore at a town hall meeting in Iowa last week she redeems returnable cans for money to help pay for her high prescription-drug costs.

“We’ve been talking about what people look for and listen for when watching the debates,” Gore said.

But the heart of Gore’s debate preparation will be closed-door sessions with his advisers in the afternoon and evening both days, as he engages in mock debates and works to refine his message.

Home on the Ranch

Bush, like Gore, is portraying the debate as an opportunity to get his message out, telling reporters, “I look forward to the opportunity to speak directly to the people.”

The GOP nominee has practiced for the debate at his ranch in Crawford the last two days. Sen. Judd Gregg of New Hampshire has played the role of Gore in mock debates, while aides have engaged in games of “pepper,” firing questions at him.

Bush said Saturday that working at the ranch “helps clear my mind,” adding, “I like to come here to this place to get my batteries recharged.”

The mood in the Bush camp has been lighthearted. During a break when reporters were present, Gregg made some jokes at Gore’s expense such as: “I invented the ranch concept,” mocking Gore’s claim to have been instrumental in creating the Internet.

For all the talk about Gore’s debate skills, however, the Bush campaign appears confident.

“We think that the pressure in this debate is really on Vice President Gore to try to change the dynamic of the race,” Hughes said Saturday. “The dynamic of the race is that voters want a change.”

Bush campaign spokesman Ari Fleischer added today that the FBI’s investigation into a package of Bush’s debate materials, myteriously sent to Gore adviser, has not distracted Bush or forced him to alter his preparations.

“His approach is the same it always has been,” Fleischer told reporters this afternoon.

Issues and Strategies

In advance of the debate, both candidates have upped the rhetorical ante during their campaign speeches during the last week, clashing over energy policy, education, and the economy.

“If the vice president gets elected, the era of big government being over is over,” Bush said at a town hall meeting Thursday in Wisconsin. “And so too, I fear, is our prosperity.”

Gore responded the same day at a speech in Washington, D.C., by claiming Bush’s proposed $1.3 trillion tax cut would end the nation’s economic growth, saying, “Forty days from now, prosperity itself will be on the ballot.”

Gore also seems likely to appeal to voters by trumpeting his plan for a prescription-drug benefit under Medicare. Bush, who has released his own plan for funding prescription drugs through Medicare, has said Gore’s Medicare proposal would, in effect, put people in a “government HMO.”

Still, Gore’s advisers seem hopeful the debate will boil down to a comparison of policy ideas.

“The number one thing we feel confident about is, when the two men stand side by side, Al Gore comes out ahead because swing voters agree overwhelmingly with Al Gore on the issues,” said campaign communications director Mark Fabiani.

When asked this afternoon, Bush campaign spokesman Ari Fleischer declined to say what issues Bush has been focusing on in his preparations. But in addition to wrestling with Gore on the issues, Bush may attempt to question Gore’s credibility, as he has throughout his campaign.

—ABCNEWS’ John Berman and Dana Hill and the Associated Press contributed to this report.