WASHINGTON - The chairmen of the Bush and Gore campaigns agreed yesterday to a novel plan for next month's presidential debates that will include a traditional stand-at-the-podium session in Boston, a town meeting in St. Louis, and a new, free-flowing table talk in Winston-Salem, N.C.
Jim Lehrer, host of the NewsHour on PBS, will moderate the presidential debates, according to the bipartisan Commission on Presidential Debates, the events' sponsor. Lehrer moderated the 1996 debates.
The vice presidential candidates, Dick Cheney and Joseph I. Lieberman, will debate for the first time when they meet around a table Oct. 5 in Danville, Ky. A moderator for that session is expected to be named this week, said Frank J. Fahrenkopf Jr., one of the commission's cochairmen.
Ending three days of negotiating over the venues, dates, and formats of the debates, the chairmen of the campaigns told reporters that the formats would allow for extended discussions rather than time-limited answers and would produce in-depth responses and the kind of give-and-take that voters want from these meetings.
''It gives the moderator a more free-flowing style and more discretion to stay on one particular subject,'' said Don Evans, campaign chairman for Republican candidate George W. Bush. ''It gives the American people a chance to see the candidates in a more substantive, real discussion.''
William Daley, chairman for Democrat Al Gore's campaign, said he spoke with the vice president and Gore was ''extremely pleased'' with the outcome of the negotiations.
''They are interesting formats, and they give the American people the greatest opportunity ... to see these candidates and to listen to them specifically speak on issues of great importance to the American people,'' Daley said.
The presidential debate are scheduled for Oct. 3 at the University of Massachusetts at Boston, Oct. 11 at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, and Oct. 17 at Washington University in St. Louis. Each will last 90 minutes.
Fahrenkopf, a former chairman of the Republican National Committee, said only those candidates garnering 15 percent of the vote in polls will be invited to participate in the first two debates. At present, that would eliminate Green Party candidate Ralph Nader and Reform Party candidate Patrick J. Buchanan. The polling data will be reviewed before the last two presidential debates, Fahrenkopf said.
Because, from all indications, the presidential race will stay tight, debates that draw tens of millions of television viewers are critical to the candidates. Bush and Gore knew the stakes were high, and sent in teams of top advisers to chisel out every detail.
For weeks, Bush had resisted the schedule and format proposed by the commission earlier this year, but in the end almost everything the commission recommended was adopted. The commission has sponsored the debates since 1988.
Bostonian Paul G. Kirk Jr., cochairman of the commission and a former Democratic National Committee chairman, said that throughout the talks, ''both campaigns wanted to make sure they got it right.'' He said the tone was civil, and the negotiators got along ''pretty well.'' The agreement had been reached yesterday after eight hours of negotiations.
''A lot of people's patience was extended, but nobody lost it,'' Kirk said.
Kirk, who is cochairman of the board of the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation, said the Gore campaign preferred that the first debate be in the traditional podium format. Gore is believed to be more comfortable in the formal setting, while Bush is expected to fare better in the more casual and conversational format when the two sit down around a table with Lehrer.
Research from past debates indicates viewers like the town-meeting format best, because citizens are selected to ask questions, and journalists don't play a role. The Gallup polling organization will select a demographically diversified pool of undecided voters for the town meeting in St. Louis. Those who agree to participate will submit their questions beforehand to Lehrer, who will decide on the questions for the debate.
The commission suggested Lehrer as the moderator. Lehrer said he was contacted Friday by Janet Brown, the commission's executive director, and asked whether he would be interested. At noon yesterday, Brown called him again with the official invitation; Lehrer agreed, saying he was overwhelmed and honored.
The PBS anchor said the format gives him more flexibility to ask follow-up questions and expands the time for answers..
What won't change, Lehrer predicted, is how nervous he will be.
''If you don't get nervous doing this, what in the hell do you get nervous about?'' Lehrer asked. ''Only a fool or a liar would tell you they aren't.''
