Bush wants roundtable talk format, adviser says

By Glen Johnson, Globe Staff, 8/24/2000

USTIN, Texas - While George W. Bush is chuckling over the debate about presidential debates, his staff is serious about shaping this year's encounters to be favorable for their candidate.

According to a Bush adviser, the GOP presidential candidate opposes the podium-and-panelist method that has dominated recent presidential debates. Instead, Bush wants a more intimate roundtable discussion like the primary debate in February where he, Senator John S. McCain of Arizona, and former ambassador Alan Keyes sat face-to-face with CNN's Larry King before a live audience.

''He can stand and deliver, but those are stupid formats,'' said the adviser, speaking yesterday about recent presidential debates.

Bush's advisers say the traditional debate format features ''gotcha'' questions from reporters who serve as panelists. Roundtables are also preferable to town-hall style debates, which were favorable to President Clinton in 1992 and 1996, according to the adviser. During the CNN debate, Bush, McCain, and Keyes were able to respond immediately and at length to criticisms, rather than waiting to be called upon or speak within a time limit.

The Commission on Presidential Debates has proposed three formal discussions this fall between Bush and his Democratic opponent, Vice President Al Gore, all in October. The first is scheduled for Oct. 3 in Boston. While the Bush campaign has committed to three debates with Gore, it has said he may participate in only two commission events, noting that it has received about 40 other offers for debates. The commission has yet to set a format for its debates and has sought input from the campaigns.

The proposed debate at the University of Massachusetts in Boston could be a risk for Bush because it would take place in a traditionally Democratic state.

''What does that show of your leadership skills to be in those eighth-grade style debates?'' said the adviser. ''You're never going to be in a situation like that in real life. ... What they want is a forum that provides more give and take, is more integrated than those formats are.''

Gore has called on Bush to drop all TV advertising in favor of twice-weekly debates. The vice president has accepted all offers tendered to him and Bush, but Gore's campaign is not yet wedded to a particular format. The pair has received offers from such wide-ranging sources as Voter.com, which wants a debate broadcast over the Internet, to David Letterman, who has offered to moderate a face-off on his late-night talk show.

''The general parameters we have are to take issues to the greatest number of people we can, have as many as possible, and get this going as quickly as possible,'' said a Gore spokesman, Douglas Hattaway.

Speaking Tuesday with reporters aboard his campaign plane, Bush chuckled about ''the debate about debates'' but declared, ''I think three is plenty.''

He added: ''There are some wonderful people that have asked to be moderators, really great news networks that are interested in participating. We're going to look at them all in equal light, give everybody a fair chance.''

In another session with reporters Monday, he appeared to indicate support for a nontraditional format.

''I think what I'd like to do is have debates where people get a sense of what we both believe and that it's structured so that both of us are able to share our ideas in a way that people will listen to,'' Bush said.

In withholding its immediate acceptance of any debate offers, the Bush campaign has gained leverage in determining how and when its candidate will be featured.

Prominent in the memory of the Bush campaign is a 1992 town-hall debate between Governor Bill Clinton of Arkansas, Texas billionaire H. Ross Perot, and Bush's father, President Bush, the adviser said.

In that Richmond, Va., session, moderator Carole Simpson of ABC News encouraged questioners from the audience to prevent Bush from focusing on trust and judgment issues as they related to Clinton's antiwar efforts. Later, Simpson was accused of partisanship, a charge the journalist denied.