BROADCAST PRESIDENTIAL DEBATES
STAPLE OF AMERICAN POLITICS   

The bipartisan Commission on Presidential Debates has chosen dates -- all in October -- and locations for three 90-minute meetings between Democratic Vice President Al Gore and Republican Texas Governor George W. Bush. The vice presidential candidates, Democratic Connecticut Senator Joe Lieberman and Republican former Defense Secretary Dick Cheney will also debate one another once in October.

Debates among candidates are rare in most countries. But they have become a staple of American politics, particularly during the last 25 years. "Presidential debates remain the most effective voter education events of American political campaigns," says Paul Kirk, Jr., chairman of the Kennedy Library Foundation Board of Directors, the likely site of one of the major presidential debates this Fall. Kirk, former chairman of the Democratic National Committee, is co-chair of the Commission on Presidential Debates, along with Frank Fahrenkopf, former chairman of the Republican National Committee.

The debates are a "key test" of the strength and abilities of the candidates, says CNN analyst Jeff Greenfield. A candidate cannot package himself in debates the way he can in party advertisements but must be quick on his feet to respond to unanticipated questions and criticisms, he adds.

The unforgettable debate quip that can deflate a candidacy is the worst nightmare of any presidential hopeful. "There you go again," Ronald Reagan's memorable retort to President Jimmy Carter, was a line that stuck with both viewers and commentators in the 1980 presidential campaign. Carter went on to lose.

Another example -- Vice President Walter Mondale's deadly question to Senator Gary Hart, his main competitor in the 1984 Democratic primaries, "Where's the beef?" Mondale borrowed the line from a hamburger commercial that had used the phrase, "where's the beef?" to suggest that competing products shortchanged the consumer. Mondale, in effect, suggested that Hart's ideas were short on substance.

The potential of debates to damage a vulnerable presidential hopeful is one reason why some candidates, particularly frontrunners, are reluctant to risk their chances in such an uncontrolled environment -- and the fewer debate rules there are, the less control the candidates have. But broadcast presidential debates, both in the primaries and in the general election, are now routine and expected by the American people. It is a major opportunity to examine the talents and skills of the candidates in a spontaneous format where the questions are not known in advance. Consequently, it now is all but impossible for candidates to decline to participate in at least some debates.

It was not always so. Face-to-face presidential debates began their broadcast history in 1948 when Republicans Thomas Dewey and Harold Stassen faced each other in a radio debate during the Oregon Republican presidential primary. The first broadcast television debate between the two major party nominees was in 1960 when Senator John F. Kennedy faced Vice President Richard Nixon. The four debates were considered crucial to Kennedy's narrow victory.

Interestingly, Americans who heard the debate on radio thought Nixon won. But the far larger television audience applauded Kennedy's performance, testimony to the importance -- in the television age -- of image as well as substance. The point is Americans are concerned not just with a leader's policies and ideology, but also with his character and temperament. In the contentious atmosphere of a debate, such personal attributes are easier for voters to judge than in pre-packaged campaign commercials or formal speeches.

Because television debates were deemed so crucial to the outcome of the 1960 election -- dooming Richard Nixon to a narrow loss in the opinion of many analysts -- the presidential nominees in the subsequent three presidential elections shied away from debates, feeling the risks were too great. Not until 1976 when Georgia Governor Jimmy Carter confronted President Gerald Ford was there another presidential debate. Since then, there have been debates in each of the presidential election years. The American people now expect them and it is doubtful a candidate could refuse to participate, analysts say.

Since 1987, the presidential debates have been organized by a bipartisan organization, the Commission on Presidential Debates. Its purpose is to sponsor and produce debates for the presidential and vice presidential candidates of the two major parties.

This year, the Commission set a threshold for the participation of third party candidates in the debates. They must show they have the support -- as evidenced in a number of opinion polls -- of at least 15 percent of the population. So far, none have.

Whatever the quality of the Fall debates, they are unlikely to equal the most famous political debates in American history which occurred long before the invention of radio and television.

In 1858, Stephen Douglas debated Abraham Lincoln for a U.S. Senate seat. The debates were held at seven sites throughout Illinois, one for each of the seven congressional districts. Douglas, a pro-slavery Democrat, was the incumbent. Lincoln was anti-slavery. "Honest Abe," as he was endearingly called, lost the Senate race, but two years later was elected the first Republican president of the United States. The Lincoln-Douglas debates are still heralded for the quality of the discourse at a crucial time in the nation's history.