ASHINGTON - Campaign aides for Al Gore and George W. Bush agreed yesterday to three debates moderated by Jim Lehrer of PBS - debates that both sides said will provide more flexibility and a more ''free-flowing style'' than previous debates.
Both campaigns and commission officials called the new approach for the presidential debates ''historic,'' although the first debate, to be held Oct. 3 in Boston, will have the traditional format of candidates standing behind lecterns.
Overall, the formats will provide the moderator more discretion in following up on questions and allowing the candidates to continue on a particular topic.
''It gives the moderator a more free-flowing style and more discretion to stay on one particular subject,'' said Don Evans, campaign chairman for Bush. ''It gives the American people a chance to see the candidates in a more substantive, real discussion.''
Gore campaign chairman William Daley said he spoke with the vice president who told him he was very satisfied with the results of the negotiations.
''This is a good day for the process and a good day for America,'' said Paul Kirk, cochairman of the commission and a former chairman of the Democratic National Comittee.
Commission cochairman Frank Fahrenkopf, a former chairman of the Republican National Committee, said having three different formats will allow voters to see the candidates in a variety of settings.
''We are not electing the best debater, and that is why seeing these candidates in different formats is important,'' he said.
The three debates, each starting at 9 p.m. and lasting 90 minutes, are scheduled as follows.
Oct. 3 in Boston at the University of Massachusetts in a traditional, two-lectern format.
Oct. 11 at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, N.C., in a talk-show format, with candidates seated around a table with the moderator. That approach is unprecedented in a presidential debate.
Oct. 17 at Washington University in St. Louis, where the candidates will hold a town hall discussion similar to ones held in 1992 and 1996 elections.
The vice presidential candidates will debate Oct. 5 at Centre College in Danville, Ky. The running mates will hold their debate in the talk-show format, and the moderator is to be named early next week.
Gore aides had accepted the three-format plan, which the bipartisan Commission on Presidential Debates proposed in January. Bush, the GOP candidate, had balked earlier at both the formats and the schedule, but agreed to the plan after coming under criticism.
The two campaigns met 71/2 hours on Friday, then broke to review the proposal before meeting again yesterday to work out details and sign off on the formats.
Bush had pushed for informal debate formats and said about two weeks ago he would accept only one commission debate and two network debates - one on NBC and another on CNN's ''Larry King Live.'' Gore rejected Bush's idea. Bush aides gave in Thursday and agreed to the three commission debates.
The Reform Party nominee, Pat Buchanan, and the Green Party nominee, Ralph Nader, both registering single digits in national polls, are expected not to meet the commission's threshold of 15 percent in media polls for inclusion.
Buchanan lost a legal battle to enter the debates in a ruling released Friday.
A poll released yesterday by Newsweek magazine showed Buchanan favored by 2 percent of likely voters and Nader favored by 3 percent. In this four-way contest, Gore led Bush 50 to 38 percent. The poll of 580 people was conducted Thursday and Friday, and had a margin of error of 5 percentage points.
In a two-way race, Gore led 54 to 41 percent among registered voters, an increase from the vice president's nine-point lead a week earlier. This poll of 853 voters had a 4-point margin of error.
Material from Reuters news service was included in this report.
