Kerry, Bush camps prepare to negotiate on debates
By Karen Branch-Brioso
Post-Dispatch Washington Bureau
08/31/2004
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NEW YORK - The presidential debate dance is about to begin.
Long ago, the Commission on Presidential Debates chose the University of Miami, Washington University in St. Louis and Arizona State University to play host to the 2004 presidential debates. But only now, as the last presidential nominating convention winds to a close, are the candidates themselves launching negotiations on the pesky details.
Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry accepted the bipartisan group's debate terms in mid-July. But President George W. Bush's campaign team has taken the coy route this week - just as it did four years ago, and as President Bill Clinton did four years before that.
Bush campaign communications director Nicolle Devenish made it clear Monday that details aren't final.
The commission "has done an excellent job rolling out its proposal," she told reporters, saying the campaign will name a debate-negotiating team after the convention ends here Thursday. "The reality now is that both sides will sit down and negotiate, and then we'll go out and have strong debates."
But how many? And where?
Asked Tuesday about the impact of the debates on the battleground states that host them, Bush senior campaign strategist Matthew Dowd said: "I don't think it will have an effect that's different in Missouri or in Florida - wherever the debates end up - than it would nationally."
Washington University political science professor Jim Davis, who teaches a course on the presidency, said the debate dance is a time-honored tradition.
"Challengers are always quicker to accept debates, because they have more to gain," Davis said. "The incumbent has more to lose. . . . He and his managers are probably not all that comfortable with three debates, because in a debate, you risk putting your foot in your mouth. And, if he can get away with two instead of three, or one instead of two, he will."
Someone is already trying, according to an anonymous source cited by CNN.com Tuesday that said "Republicans would push for just two Bush-Kerry forums."
Talk like that gets Steve Givens nervous. He heads the debate steering committee at Washington University, which hosted presidential debates in 1992 and 2000 as well. So the risk is a familiar one.
"We know this is politics and there's nothing certain about that. We know that's part of the deal," said Givens. The deal cost each host university $750,000 for the commission's costs, and Washington University will kick in an extra $500,000 or so to prepare the site. Givens said $600,000 of that is underwritten by four sponsors: A.G. Edwards, Bank of America, BJC Healthcare and Emerson Electric.
"It's such a great event to be a part of that we think it's worth the risk. There's nothing we can do but continue to work and prepare as if it's going to happen on October 8th."
Washington University did the same in 1996, when it was tapped to be the site for one of the debates between President Bill Clinton and GOP challenger Robert Dole. But Clinton dropped St. Louis from the debate plan just days before it was scheduled to take place. Instead of the three debates set by the commission, Clinton and Dole faced off just twice.
Janet Brown, executive director for the commission that has produced the presidential debates since 1988, spoke hopefully of the chances of keeping the schedule for three presidential debates and one vice presidential debate, set for Case Western Reserve University in Ohio.
"There is a very considered rationale for the number, schedule, format and location of the '04 debates and I'm confident that the campaign will understand that," Brown said.
Looking purely at electoral votes, Missouri, with 11, would seem to have a leg up on Arizona, with 10. Florida has 27. They are all battleground states, as is Ohio, the site chosen for the vice presidential debate, with 20 electoral votes.
Then, again, if it comes down to a tussle in debate negotiations, Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano is a member of Kerry's debate negotiating team.
Open Debates, a nonprofit group that has heavily criticized the Commission on Presidential Debates for rules that usually lead to the exclusion of third-party candidates, is hoping that the commission's influence - and schedule - will change.
"At the end of the day, the two campaigns sit down and say what they want," said Chris Shaw, organizing director of Open Debates. "And we don't think a Commission on Presidential Debates will stand up to the candidates and say that, in the interests of voter education, we want this."
For now, at least, the traditional process is about to begin, as the two major-party candidates prepare to put their negotiating teams together to decide the fate of the commission's schedule. And Washington University's place in the schedule.
Jon Sawyer of the Post-Dispatch Washington bureau contributed to this report.
Reporter Karen Branch-Brioso
E-mail: kbranch@post-dispatch.com
Phone: 202-298-6880
