WASHINGTON -- The debates between George W. Bush and Vice President Al Gore are being underwritten by contributions from several companies with major business pending before the government.

SPONSORS INTERNET SPONSORS: AT&T 3Com Harris Interactive Alteon WebSystems ZoneOfTrust Speeche Communications Webtrends Tellme Networks GENERAL SPONSORS Anheuser-Busch US Airways The Century Foundation The Marjorie Kovler Fund 3Com ON THE WEB COMMISSION ON PRESIDENTIAL DEBATES http://www.debates.org

For their largesse to the Commission on Presidential Debates, companies like US Airways, Anheuser-Busch and 3Com will get a tax deduction, tickets to the debates and invites to a private reception before the first debate.

"It brings us good visibility with one of the nation's most important elections and it's good citizenship in the local community," said David Castelveter, a spokesman for US Airways.

Neither the commission nor the companies would divulge the exact size of the donations.

Some involve donated services for the commission Web site or for travel to the debates.

For instance, AT&T is handling for free the Internet traffic for the commission's Web site; Anheuser-Busch is providing food, beverages and literature about their corporate-responsibility programs such as preserving the environment and fighting alcohol abuse; and 3Com is the best-known of several high-tech companies helping to run the site, which includes online surveys and forums.

US Airways is offering cut-rate fares for campaigns, news media and members of the public who travel to and from the debate sites.

It and the other sponsors will also get their names prominently mentioned in the literature for nationally televised events that will help determine the next president.

The companies who donated services for the commission Web site also get their logos prominently displayed on the site, and all the companies get links to their own corporate Web pages.

The commission said soliciting corporate donations was necessary because the debates, unlike the campaigns, get no taxpayer funding.

"We are a private, nonprofit entity," said Frank Fahrenkopf, the former Republican National Committee chairman who heads the commission with former Democratic National Committee Chairman Paul Kirk. "We get no funding from the federal government. We get no funding from the political parties. We have to raise our money ourselves."

For the donors, the benefits are worth far more than the amount they contribute, said Charles Lewis, executive director of the Center for Public Integrity, a Washington-based watchdog group.

"They're going to get close access to both presidential candidates and they're going to probably have representatives of the companies at hand at the debate sites," Lewis said. "To me, it's another way to curry favor with the powers that be."

In June, Green Party presidential candidate Ralph Nader filed suit in Boston federal court, claiming U.S. laws barring corporations from contributing to political campaigns also prohibit donations to the debates commission. He asked that the judge in the case invalidate Federal Election Commission regulations that allow corporate sponsorship of the debates.

The donors to the commission will get to bend ears at a private reception being thrown before the first debate next Tuesday in Boston. The John F. Kennedy Library Foundation is hosting the party.

John Scardino, a spokesman for the debates commission, said many other nonprofit groups also seek corporate donations to underwrite their costs and said the donors simply "see a benefit in being involved in a good-government activity.

"We don't have anything to sell. We don't have any membership that we can get people to subscribe to," Scardino said. "We have to depend on the generosity of foundations and individuals and corporations so we have an operating budget."

Many of the sponsors have interests pending before the government.

US Airways, which has given $416,120 to candidates and the political parties in the 2000 election cycle, is awaiting federal approval to merge with United Airlines.

Anheuser-Busch, which has contributed $832,456, has joined with the rest of the alcohol industry in opposing efforts to make a 0.08 percent blood alcohol content a nationwide standard for drunk driving.

And AT&T, among other issues, opposes efforts to allow the regional Bell telephone companies to carry data on long-distance lines. AT&T, which is a major long-distance cable television company, made $3.6 million in campaign contributions since Jan. 1, 1999, including $3.2 million in unregulated soft money donations to the political parties, more than any other company.

For US Airways, however, the decision to sponsor the debates was easy because it has a major presence in both New England and the Carolinas, where two of the four debates are scheduled.

"US Airways has an excellent flight schedule in and out of these cities," Castelveter said. "It only makes sense that we link our route structure with the needs of the commission."