Bush, Clinton Campaigns Confirm Details for Series of Debates

Aides to President Bush and Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton on Saturday formally announced plans for three presidential debates, beginning next Sunday in St. Louis.

Both sides said independent candidate Ross Perot will be invited to participate, and Perot’s spokesman said the Texas billionaire will be there.

The details of the debate dates and sites confirmed reports that surfaced Friday.

Saturday’s announcement set a compressed, nine-day timetable for the three presidential encounters and one vice presidential debate--a series of confrontations with the potential for shaking up the race for the White House.

Each debate will last 90 minutes, take place before an audience and be open to all subjects. A variety of formats will be employed.

The presidential debates will be Oct. 11 in St. Louis, Oct. 15 in Richmond, Va., and Oct. 19 in East Lansing, Mich., according to the joint statement by Robert M. Teeter and Mickey Kantor, chairmen of the Republican and Democratic campaigns. The vice presidential debate was set for Oct. 13 in Atlanta.

Polls show Clinton leading in the race for the White House, but Perot’s recent entry into the race, the candidates’ multimillion-dollar advertising campaigns and the prospect of a rolling series of debates set the stage for a volatile final month of the campaign.

Teeter said the opportunity for an “intense series of debates” gives the President a “good chance to really get rolling” in his uphill reelection race.

“I can say to George Bush, meet me in St. Louis,” declared Clinton, who was campaigning in that city. “I’m looking forward to debating all comers.”

In Dallas, Perot spokesman Orson Swindle said: “Mr. Perot is a man who is very observant, studious, intelligent. He will be well-prepared.”

The agreement came after the bipartisan Commission on Presidential Debates tried for months to arrange debates but was rebuffed by Bush, who disliked the recommended single-moderator format.

The campaigns worked out the details and were to formally ask the commission Monday to sponsor the events.

The presidential debate formats broke down this way:

-- Oct. 11: A panel of questioners, the format Bush had wanted for all the confrontations.

-- Oct. 15: A single moderator who will “solicit questions from a live audience and ask appropriate follow-up questions,” a format in line with Clinton’s requests.

-- Oct. 19: A single moderator for the first half, a panel for the second half.

For the vice presidential debate, the campaigns settled on the single-moderator format.

Even as they announced agreement, the two sides maneuvered for advantage.

Bush aides, speaking on condition of anonymity, said they wanted to permit the candidates to question one another, but Clinton’s side rejected it.

Dee Dee Myers, Clinton’s spokeswoman, said Bush’s negotiators wanted the debaters to be able to use written notes, but that idea was dropped.

Kantor said the Clinton campaign had not wanted debates any closer to Election Day, as Bush had suggested, “because they freeze the process and allow for late charges which can’t be refuted.”