Bush eager to settle on debates, aides say
GOP leaders urge a more forceful attack
ASHINGTON - George W. Bush's campaign, urged by congressional Republicans to take the offensive in the presidential race, expressed eagerness yesterday to work out debating details and go head to head with Al Gore.
Foreshadowing difficult negotiations this week, Bush aides expressed their preference for TV debates with an informal style, not necessarily the formats proposed by a nonpartisan commission and endorsed by Gore.
But Bush spokesman Ari Fleischer added, ''We want to get in the ring with Al Gore,'' and negotiators for the Republican presidential candidate will go into the talks with no preconceptions.
Sentiment has been growing among Republicans that Bush should settle on debates and put the distraction behind him.
Senate majority leader Trent Lott, Republican of Mississippi, said yesterday that Bush needs to promote his ideas on tax cuts, education, and Social Security; stay positive; and yet convince voters that Gore is ''just a rehashed old Democrat'' who wants to tax and spend.
He'll win Nov. 7 if ''he'll get on that message,'' he said on CNN's ''Late Edition.'' ''The important thing is for us to be on the offensive and have a committed campaign, explain what we're trying to do.''
Representative Tom DeLay of Texas, the GOP whip, betrayed concern about Gore's catch-up in the polls since his convention, which he attributed to a Democratic advertising barrage that Republicans have not yet effectively countered.
''There are some Republicans that are nervous about this, and we should be nervous,'' DeLay said on NBC's ''Meet the Press.'' ''We should be focused and nervous and carry this fight all the way to the election.''
A tracking poll released yesterday by CNN-USA Today-Gallup showed Gore at 47 percent and Bush at 44 percent with a 4 percentage point margin of error.
Bush so far has refused to commit to the three-debate schedule of the Commission on Presidential Debates. He has said he wants to debate Gore on NBC's ''Meet the Press'' and CNN's ''Larry King Live,'' with possibly a third debate as well.
But he recently dropped his refusal to let his campaign negotiate directly with Gore's campaign and appears closer now to having at least two debates sponsored by the commission.
The commission has proposed 90-minute debates in Boston on Oct. 3, in Winston-Salem, N.C., on Oct. 11, and in St. Louis on Oct. 17, as well as an Oct. 5 vice presidential debate in Danville, Ky.
It's getting late to change dates and venues, said commission director Janet H. Brown. ''An awful lot of work has gone into both.''
But she said there is still time to talk about how the debates should be conducted.
''The format is something we're very open to talking about,'' she said on CBS's ''Face the Nation.'' ''We've put a number of options on the table.''
The Gore campaign sounded flexible about how debates would be handled, as long as they were done under the auspices of the commission.
''We've always been open to talking about formats with the goal of allowing as many people as possible to see the debates,'' said Gore spokesman Doug Hattaway.
Brown said the first meeting with campaign representatives is expected Thursday.
The commission has sponsored all televised presidential and vice presidential debates in the last three elections.
Democratic vice presidential candidate Joseph I. Lieberman told supporters at a fund-raiser in Bal Harbour, Fla., yesterday that he and Al Gore will win in November if they carry Florida, which has grown increasingly competitive.
''We've come a long way in the last five weeks, and nowhere more dramatically than in the state of Florida,'' Lieberman said. ''We're confident, but not overconfident. But I can tell you, if we carry Florida, there's no way we're going to lose.''
Later in the day, the US senator from Connecticut changed his schedule to fly to Chicago so he and Gore could appear on television interviews, campaign officials said, to discuss a new report from the Federal Trade Commission criticizing the entertainment industry for routinely marketing violent movies, video games, and music to young people. Lieberman has been a leading critic in Congress of such practices.
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