Studying Over, Vice Presidential Candidates Head to Debate Site

Vice President Al Gore and his Republican opponent, Jack Kemp, completed their pre-debate preparations Tuesday and headed for their mutual date with national television tonight.

Gore has been relaxing and rehearsing at a resort on Longboat Key, an island near Sarasota, since Saturday. At question-and-answer sessions with staffers, held in a hall in the Mote Marine Laboratory, he has often moved from the table to a nearby basketball hoop and shot baskets while continuing with his answers, said Lorraine Voles, Gore’s communications director.

As for Kemp, he has been in Florida since Sunday afternoon, preparing for the debate in the same room that Bob Dole used last week: a restaurant at the Sea View Hotel in Bal Harbour, where Dole owns a condominium.

Kemp and Sen. Judd Gregg (R-N.H.), who is playing Gore in the rehearsals, ran through three full-dress practice sessions Monday. Tuesday, the ever-talkative Kemp joked with reporters that “I got my answers down to three minutes.”

He still has a way to go. Under the debate rules, each candidate will get 90 seconds.