Officials with both President Bush and Senator John Kerry agreed to three debates, including one on the campus of Washington University in St. Louis, at a press conference held September 20. Both Steve Givens, assistant to the chancellor and chairman of Washington University’s debate steering committee, and Jonathan Greenberger, editor in chief of Student Life, express excitement and relief over the announcement in this article by Philip Dine of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
Bush, Kerry will meet in St. Louis for debate
Oct. 8 is date for town-hall forum
(Republished with permission from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. This article originally ran in the News section on Tuesday, September 21, 2004)
By Philip Dine
Post-Dispatch Washington Bureau
After weeks of negotiations, officials with the campaigns of President George W. Bush and challenger John F. Kerry agreed late Monday afternoon to three presidential debates, with Washington University hosting the middle one on Oct. 8. There will be one vice presidential debate.
The St. Louis debate will be the only one with a town-hall forum, with likely voters from the audience, selected by the Gallup Organization, posing the questions.
A statement by the two sides said the debates “will ensure a productive and fruitful exchange of ideas about the most important issues facing Americans today.”
The reaction at Washington University Monday, where planning had been under way for about a year, was exuberant.
“That’s wonderful. It’s what we’ve been planning for – and we’re ready to do it,” said Steve Givens, assistant to the chancellor and chairman of Washington University’s debate steering committee. He acknowledged being relieved.
“You’re working hard and you know you really can’t stop, but at the same time you just hope it happens after all the hard work. It reinforces all the more that we did the right thing in keeping going on with our plans. We’re delighted.”
The debate is to be attended by “soft supporters” of Republican Bush and Democrat Kerry, in equal numbers, and will be moderated by Charles Gibson of ABC. Questions are to be divided equally between foreign and domestic topics.
The first debate, on Sept. 30 at the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Fla., will focus on foreign policy and homeland security with Jim Lehrer moderating. The final presidential debate, on Oct. 13 at Arizona State University in Tempe, Ariz., will cover domestic and economic policy with Bob Schieffer moderating.
Vice President Dick Cheney and Sen. John Edwards will meet Oct. 5 at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, and Gwen Ifill will moderate.
Much will ride on the debates, with tens of millions of Americans expected to tune in. The expectations game – in which one side tries to raise the bar for the opponent – has already begun.
“Obviously these are going to be very tough debates,” said Kerry spokesman Bill Burton. “George Bush is a very skilled debater who’s never lost a debate in his life.”
The bargaining, led by Vernon Jordan for Kerry and James Baker for Bush, reportedly went on until the end over issues as minute as how the candidates would be cued that their time was up on a given answer.
Kerry early on had accepted the plan for three presidential debates by the Commission on Presidential Debates, while Bush had hesitated over the St. Louis town-hall format.
“A lot of people were very concerned when they heard that it might be canceled,” said Jonathan Greenberger, a senior and editor in chief of Student Life at Washington University. “It’s good exposure for the university, the state and the city. It’s good for the American people.”
In a sharply worded letter last week to the two campaigns, the debate commission had called for a meeting by Monday “to finalize debate plans” so the four universities involved could go ahead with preparations. The commission had proposed the sites in November.
Givens said Monday before the agreement was reached that Washington University students “are antsy.” But the school was “moving forward as if this thing is going to happen,” ordering media kits, T-shirts and buttons, letting contracts for power generators and telephone lines. Actual construction of the debate area and the placing of cables are set to begin late next week, he said.
The university has already paid the commission a $750,000 fee required by each institution holding a debate – $600,000 of it covered by St. Louis sponsors – and additionally has spent tens of thousands of dollars on expenses, school sources said. A half-million dollars more is likely to be spent on security, food and parking, with a small amount to be recouped from media outlets using the facilities.
Political expert Norm Ornstein of the American Enterprise Institute said that Bush, as the incumbent and front-runner in most polls, has the most to lose by accepting three debates, but that the risk of appearing afraid to take on Kerry was too great.
Reporter Philip Dine
E-mail: pdine@post-dispatch.com
Phone: 202-298-6880
Copyright 2004 St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Inc.