CAMPAIGN ’88 : Debate Dates Unsettled
Republican presidential nominee George Bush said Wednesday that he will debate Democratic candidate Michael S. Dukakis this fall, but he virtually ruled out two September dates offered by organizations interested in sponsoring the confrontations.
Paul Brountas, the Dukakis campaign chairman, immediately termed “inexcusable” the Bush campaign’s refusal to participate in debates planned for Sept. 8 in Birmingham, Ala., and Sept. 14 in Annapolis, Md.
Bush campaign chairman James A. Baker III said it was unlikely a debate could take place before Sept. 20.
Brountas called the Bush decision not to accept the earlier dates “a transparent effort to limit the number of debates.”
Campaigning in Grand Rapids, Mich., on Wednesday, Dukakis said of his opponent: “I’m going to be in Annapolis on the 14th, with or without him.”
Get the L.A. Times Politics newsletter
Deeply reported insights into legislation, politics and policy from Sacramento, Washington and beyond. In your inbox three times per week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
