Quayle Wryly Opens Education Debate

Vice President Dan Quayle contended Wednesday that he will be “at a big disadvantage” in a debate with Democrat Al Gore because he went to public schools while Gore went to private ones.

Quayle, in Detroit for the opening of an export show, was asked how he felt about debating Tennessee Sen. Gore, the vice presidential nominee, who is a graduate of Harvard and St. Albans, an exclusive prep school in Washington, D.C.

“It’s going to be a very interesting contest because he went to the most expensive schools, and I went to public schools,” Quayle said with a smile. “He’ll have a big advantage.”

Quayle, grandson of a wealthy newspaper publisher, also noted that Gore is “the son of a wealthy United States senator”--a reference to Al Gore Sr., who served in the Senate from 1953 to 1970.

Quayle went to public schools in Indiana and Arizona, then attended DePauw University, a private school in Indiana.

The comments seemed to be an attempt to lower expectations for any debates that may be held--the locations, formats and dates of which are still up in the air. Quayle’s running mate, President Bush, has done the same thing, telling reporters that he is no Oxford debater--a reference to Democratic presidential nominee Bill Clinton’s Rhodes scholarship.

But, although Quayle attended public schools himself, his three children have attended private school since he became vice president. One son went to St. Albans for a year, and his daughter attends its sister institution, the National Cathedral School.

Two of Bush’s sons attended St. Albans too.

Later, the vice president was asked if he was putting down public education. “No, public schools are going to do quite well,” he said.

Quayle’s spokesman, David Beckwith, said the vice president was joking.

“He had a big smile on his face when he made those remarks,” Beckwith said. “He was having a little fun with the media elite. . . . “

Gore, while campaigning in Fernald, Ohio, laughed heartily when asked about Quayle’s comments.

“What puts the Bush-Quayle team at a disadvantage . . . is that they have presided over the worst economic performance since the Great Depression,” Gore said.

Times staff writer Edwin Chen, in Ohio, contributed to this story.