ASHINGTON - Ending weeks of tension, the campaigns of George W. Bush and Al Gore yesterday agreed to three presidential debates, including one in Boston, after Bush dropped his demands for different locations and formats.
Bush, who has gone from a 17-point lead in the polls to running even or slightly behind Gore in recent weeks, decided on Wednesday that he couldn't afford to drag out the dispute over debates any longer, said a senior aide, speaking on condition of anonymity. Thus, when the two campaigns met yesterday with officials of the Commission on Presidential Debates, the Bush camp quickly dropped its objections and agreed to the original schedule.
Bush campaign chairman Donald Evans, after emerging from the four-hour meeting at a Washington law firm, said the campaign changed its position because ''we're eager to get on with debates. The commission was very constructive and helped in these discussions.''
The senior Bush aide said, ''We didn't want to spend another two weeks talking about it,'' but he denied Bush had ''caved'' to Gore's demands.
The Boston debate will be held first, on Oct. 3 at the University of Massachusetts campus in Dorchester. If history is a guide, the first debate will probably be the most-watched and most influential.
The two other presidential debates will be Oct. 11 at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, N.C., and Oct. 17 at Washington University in St. Louis. Each 90-minute session is slated to be televised during prime time.
The campaigns also agreed to the original schedule for a single vice presidential debate on Oct. 5 at Centre College in Danville, Ky.
Despite the agreement on dates and locations, the campaign left two major questions unresolved: the choice of the moderator or reporters for each debate and the format. At least one of the debates could be held in a town-hall style session with questions posed by residents. Also undecided are details such as whether the candidates will stand behind lecterns, sit in chairs, or allow moderators to show video clips during their questions.
UMass-Boston officials, who had spent months preparing for the debate, were relieved and thrilled with the decision.
''We're very happy with the announcement today,'' University of Massachusetts president William M. Bulger said. ''We couldn't think of any reason why Governor Bush wouldn't want to debate here. We're really most pleased.''
Paul G. Kirk Jr., the Democratic co-chairman of the debate commission whose Boston roots played a major role in bringing one of the forums to Massachusetts, said he was happy for the city and praised local officials.
''The credit goes to them. One of the things that we talked about was how much these communities have contributed in preparing for these,'' Kirk said.
The debate commission has not invited Green Party candidate Ralph Nader or either of the two people claiming to be the Reform Party nominee, Patrick J. Buchanan or John Hagelin. Representatives of those campaigns have argued that they should be included. But the commission, which is chaired by former chairmen of the Democratic and Republican parties, requires a third-party candidate to reach 15 percent in a series of five polls in order to be invited. That has angered the third-party candidates, who say their best chance of climbing in the polls would come from participation in the debates.
Commission executive director Janet Brown said an analysis of the polls will be done this month to determine which candidates will be invited. A CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll, conducted Sept. 10-12, showed Gore leading Bush among likely voters by 49 percent to 41 percent, with 4 percent for Nader and 1 percent for Buchanan. Another 5 percent gave a different name or voiced no preference.
The Boston debate will be held at the Clark Athletic Center at UMass-Boston. Brown said it is too early to say whether the public could apply for tickets.
Aside from the nomination acceptance speeches at the national political conventions, presidential debates are considered a candidate's best chance to reach voters. With analysts saying this could be the tightest presidential contest in many years, the debates have grown even more important. While debates mostly reinforce the views of voters already leaning toward a certain candidate, they can be a decisive factor for millions of undecided voters.
Since the bipartisan commission began sponsoring the debates in 1988, television viewership has ranged from 50 million to 97 million, with the first debate of the campaign usually receiving the highest ratings.
Bush's original strategy in rejecting two of the three commission debates was partly to pressure Gore, who had said he would debate Bush ''anytime, anywhere.'' But after the Bush campaign ran a television advertisement challenging Gore's credibility on the debate issue, some top Republicans said the strategy was backfiring with the public and reinforcing an impression that Bush did not want the largest possible television audience for the debates.
Bush spokeswoman Karen Hughes, asked whether Bush had gained anything from the two-week standoff, said: ''Absolutely. What we got is the opportunity for the American people to see the candidates in a more free-flowing and spontaneous discussion of the issues that we think will far better serve the American people.''
Some Bush aides privately expressed opposition to the Boston session, partly because the site is adjacent to the John F. Kennedy Library. The library is also sponsoring some events connected to the debate. Bush's initial reluctance to agree to the Boston debate prompted Gore this week to question whether Bush was trying to distance himself from the Kennedy legacy. Hughes insisted Bush was not wary of the Kennedy library or of appearing in a traditionally Democratic area.
Gore campaign chairman William Daley, asked if this was a victory for the vice president, said, ''No, it's a victory for the American people. This is good because the American people want to hear from these people in formal settings that give them the opportunity to express what they will do as the next president.''
Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino, who had said Bush's initial reluctance to debate here gave ''a whole new meaning to the phrase `Boston Chicken,''' yesterday applauded the decision.
After yesterday's meeting, the commission's co-chairmen said they were pleased.
''The major things about the `debate debate,' happily, are over. There's a commitment to bring these debates to the American people,'' said Kirk.
His counterpart, former Republican National Committee chairman Frank J. Fahrenkopf Jr., said: ''For all intents and purposes, there was no disagreement with doing it, but when you get down to the nitty gritty in each format - time for answers and so forth - that sort of thing is what we're now trying to reach closure on.''
Now that the debate is set, preparations are already beginning for the inevitable ''spin'' sessions and post-debate rallies.
Senator John F. Kerry, who has agreed to organize a rally for Gore at UMass-Boston, got in some pre-debate spinning practice yesterday, by sending out a news release saying: ''Unfortunately for Governor Bush, Oct. 3 may go down in history as another Boston Massacre.''
Globe reporters David Abel, reporting from Boston, Anne E. Kornblut, traveling with Bush, and Yvonne Abraham, traveling with Gore, contributed to this report.
