DEBATE COVERAGE REPUBLICANS Date: Dec. 2, 1999, Manchester, N.H. Participating: Gary Bauer, George Bush, Steve Forbes, Orrin Hatch, Alan Keyes, John McCain. GOP rivals get a crucial screen test HOW IT WENT OVER Most yawn at presidential campaign For some New Hampshire viewers, Bush fails test ANALYSIS Bush, McCain, Forbes in place TRUTH SQUAD Few gaping errors, but slips and hype in GOP matchup EXCERPTS Excerpts of GOP candidates remarks

The first GOP presidential debate to include Bush offered few chances to slug it out Thursday night, and few gaping errors of the kind his opponents no doubt hoped he would make.

But there were slips by the candidates here, hyperbole there, and times when uncomfortable facts were left unsaid.

The limited opportunity for the candidates to challenge each other "minimizes any kind of errors," said Jim Unger, director of the National Forensics Institute, devoted to the study of political communications. "It was a non-debate debate in that regard."

Still, Bush was ready with a reality check in the New Hampshire debate when Forbes went after him for recently saying he might consider increasing the retirement age for Social Security benefits beyond what already is planned.

The novice but carefully prepared presidential debater shot back with a quotation showing Forbes himself was once enthusiastic about the idea.

For his part, Bush bragged "I've got a good record as governor" on the environment, claiming industrial emissions are down 11 percent in Texas and, "We've reduced the toxic emissions overwhelmingly."

Although the state's environmental agency cited an 11 percent decrease between 1994 and 1997, federal regulators have threatened to impose tough restrictions on industries and autos in Texas because the air over its largest cities is so befouled. Texas has registered the highest ozone pollution levels in the nation.

Bush also declared "I'm the one person up here who has signed a tax-cut bill," and boasted that as governor he has returned nearly $3 billion to Texas taxpayers.

But he did not mention that property-tax relief he signed has, according to a state comptroller's report, been partly offset in nearly half of Texas' school districts because school boards simply raised taxes.

McCain sounded his frequent theme, saying it was time to "rid Washington of the special interests which have deprived Americans of their voice."

As Senate Commerce Committee chairman, McCain has accepted contributions from lobbyists and political action committees with business before his panel. And as a presidential candidate he has been a frequent flier on corporate jets.

The flights are legal, publicly disclosed and reimbursed by the campaign at a rate equivalent to first-class fare, but they still amount to a gift because the fares often do not meet the actual cost of flying the planes. The flights also give lobbyists a chance to bend the candidate's ear.

On Social Security, Forbes brushed off a suggestion that he was making too much of Bush's willingness to consider a higher retirement age for benefits.

"That's code for, 'We're going to do it,"' he said. "Guaranteed it's going to happen" if Bush were elected.

Bush didn't let the attack stand for long. "I want to read something real quick," he said.

"'What, then is a long-term solution?"' he quoted. "'Alas, the unaffordable promises have to be scaled back and the best way to do that is to gradually raise the age at which one may collect his full benefits. Those who are now in their 20s would not be eligible until they were 67 or 68."'

"The author of that," he said triumphantly -- "Mr. Steve Forbes."

Forbes owned up to the quotation but said it was old. "That quote, I think, was written 20-odd years ago," he said.

The Bush campaign handed out copies of what it said was a Nov. 15, 1977, magazine article by Forbes containing the quote.

Unger, the debate specialist, said Bush stung Forbes by dredging up the article right after Forbes had insisted any talk of raising the Social Security age should not be countenanced.

Forbes "never did respond to the idea that he in fact had advocated, fully in front of the American people, the very idea he condemns," Unger said.

Repeatedly, Forbes talked about taking things "out of the hands of the Washington politicians" and returning it to "We, the people."

Yet, in Forbes' lone experience in government, a federal agency he led was plagued by misspending and other problems cited by auditors.

During the seven years that Forbes was in charge of the International Board for Broadcasting, which oversaw U.S radio broadcasts to communist Europe, his agency's budget doubled and was cited by auditors for excessive salaries and benefits for executives. One top executive in the agency spent $250,000 in tax dollars to renovate his living quarters, auditors found.