WASHINGTON (AP) — In a whirlwind week of presidential politics, four televised debates crackled with conflict, humor and policy discussions that opened the candidates to closer inspection to a public that begins judging them two weeks hence.

Just as many voters started to pay attention, Republican John McCain and Democrat Al Gore got off to a rocky start. Taxes emerged as the central issue in the Republican race last week, and the Democrats squawked over health care.

One debate question raised an emotion-charged dialogue in both parties: Should gays be allowed to serve openly in the military? Al Gore said yes, and suggested that his appointees to the Joint Chiefs of Staff would be required to agree. The Republican candidates protested, as did military brass and some Gore allies.

The vice president backpedaled Friday night: ``I did not mean to imply that there should ever be any kind of inquiry into the personal political opinions of officers in the U.S. military.''

It was basically the same answer delivered in the debate two days earlier by Gore's rival, former New Jersey Sen. Bill Bradley. Gore also struggled with a staff-made controversy when his campaign manager suggested retired Joint Chiefs Chairman Colin Powell was being used by Republicans who ``would rather take pictures with black children than feed them.'' Powell, a popular Republican figure who is black, received a telephone call Friday from the vice president. Gore would not say whether he apologized.

No public regrets, either, from John McCain, the chairman of a powerful Senate committee who spent most of the week explaining why he wrote letters to federal regulators on behalf of big campaign donors.

``My job is to make the bureaucrats work for the people,'' McCain said. ``I would do the same thing again, almost anytime.''

The practice is common in Washington, where many people doing business with government agencies also donate to lawmakers whose duties include oversight of those agencies. But McCain, who made political reform the core of his campaign, may be held to a higher standard by voters.

George W. Bush sure hopes so. ``I think somebody who makes campaign financing an issue has got to be consistent and walk the walk,'' the GOP national front-runner said in New Hampshire, where McCain is courting independent voters with his good-government platform.

New Hampshire's primary is Feb. 1; the campaign's first votes are cast in Iowa's caucuses Jan. 24.

The new year rang in the toughest ad produced by one of the presidential campaigns. Self-financed conservative Steve Forbes, accused of running attack ads in his failed 1996 bid, aired a spot accusing Bush of breaking a no-tax pledge as Texas governor.

As the ad was being shipped to TV stations, Bush promoted his $483 billion tax-cut plan with a debate-night pledge: ``This is not only no new taxes. This is tax cuts, so help me God,'' he said.

Forbes' good timing did not make up for a bad showing in the debates. His voice was rarely heard amid the clash between Bush and McCain as they tangled over taxes and campaign finance reform.

Aides blamed the moderator, the format and their own candidate for getting few words in edgewise.

``I think Steve was too much of a gentleman in terms of getting his face in theirs and getting his message out,'' said Ken Blackwell, his campaign chairman.

Bush flew early in the week to Iowa, where Forbes is threatening his wide lead in state polls with a strong organization.

Calling McCain's tax plan too small, Bush said, ``There is a tax gap in this campaign.'' Without mentioning Forbes — champion of the flat tax — the Texas governor also was trying to undercut the rival's gains in Iowa.

McCain unveils a modest-sized tax cut plan this week, but he is already calling Bush's package reckless. It benefits the wealthy and spends billions of dollars that could be better spent bolstering Social Security, he said.

Republican strategist Scott Reed, who managed Bob Dole's 1996 campaign, said McCain is taking a huge gamble criticizing a big tax cut in a GOP primary.

``You can't tack to the left on taxes, especially with economic conservatives in New Hampshire. I really think this will hurt him worse than'' the ethical questions, Reed said.

Three other GOP contenders — Orrin Hatch, Gary Bauer and Alan Keyes — got valuable exposure to the voting public, though they remain mired in single digits in opinion polls.

In the Democratic contest, Gore continued to warn that Bradley's promise to provide nearly all Americans health insurance would be a disaster. Bradley said it will not, and pumped $250,000 into a new TV ad to defend his campaign of ``big ideas.''

It got personal. ``I think you're in a Washington bunker,'' Bradley told Gore in their first encounter of the week. The vice president replied with his own war analogy in their second debate Saturday, saying in Iowa that he has been on ``the front lines in the fight for our future.''

One of the funniest exchanges, typical of the wounding humor that energized all four debates, came after Gore said he opposed Bradley's policies but respected the man.

Fishing for a compliment for Gore, the moderator asked Bradley in the earlier debate, ``Do you agree?''

``I agree with what he said,'' replied Bradley, not willing to play nice. ``I think I'm genuinely a good person.''