Drudge Reports Bush/Kerry Agree To 3 Debates

[s8hanse1]

Just posted on his website. No link to source though. Glad Bush didn't worm his way out of any of the debates.

[truhavoc]

1. And hopefully there is at LEAST 1 "town-hall" debate n/t

[stevedeshazer]

18. There is one

Link here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A34246-2004Sep19?language=printer

[JI7]

2. good thing the Kerry team was smart enough not to attack him over it

which would have lowered standards for bush and he would have been seen as brave just for showing up.

i bet the kerry team knew most of the delay was a political move meant to lower standards for bush.

now it's our job to start raising the standards for bush. and tell everyone how horrible kerry is in debates.

[gmoney]

3. How about just a "Fight Club" style brawl?

Bush is a few years younger, but Kerry has the reach...

[Yupster]

9. But Bush

bites. There'd have to be a rule againsy biting.

[PartyPooper]

4. I wonder if Junior insisted on "standins": Karen Hughes, Pickles, & Babs.

:eyes:

[Yupster]

10. That probably would be interesting

if one of the debates was like the old William Buckley Firing Line debates with a three or four person team.

[kainah]

5. the debate commission is another scandal

It totally outrages me that the Dem & Repug Committees have this farce of a commission set up to hide their demands & do all the dirty work outside the public's view. I mean, remember the League of Women Voters? Please, someone, tell me what the hell was wrong with the LWV sponsoring these debates?????

They'll be sanitized, no matter what they've agreed to, I'm sure. The mere fact that idiot reporters like Jim Lehrer (too old now & memory faulty) and Gwen Ifill (too impressed with her own shallow knowledge to challenge anyone) shows that we should not expect much from them, no matter what the format.

That said, I certainly will be surprised if they let * loose in front of "regular" people.

[s8hanse1]

6. Hyping up Bush has already begun.

Hyping up Bush has already begun. Which is a good thing. I have heard from at least 3 different sources that Bush has never lost a debate. Kerry had better be ready for these debates. The general public only appreciates a performance if perception beats expectation. If Bush under-performs his expectations, then Kerry wins.

[quaoar]

7. Three debates: Sept. 30, Oct. 8 and Oct. 13

The first to be on foreign policy in Florida.
The second to be in Missouri in a town hall format with questions from undecided voters.
The third to be in Arizona on domestic issues.

[ogradda]

8. cnn headline news should get on the ball

5 min ago they said while the kerry campaign has agreed to all the debates, the bush campaign was still "non-committal". maybe they haven't caught up yet.

[ruggerson]

11. Is Bush Insisting Cheney Come With Him?

[onehandle]

12. Not me. I wanted him to skip one.

Had my chicken suit dry cleaned and ready to go.

[jefferson_dem]

13. WP LINK HERE -

The campaigns of President Bush and Sen. John F. Kerry have tentatively settled on a package of three face-to-face debates that both sides view as a potentially decisive chance to sway huge audiences ahead of the Nov. 2 election, Democrats and Republicans said yesterday.

Bush's campaign, which opened the negotiations by urging just two sessions involving Bush and Kerry, yielded to the full slate of debates that had been proposed by the Commission on Presidential Debates, according to people in both parties who were briefed on the negotiations.

No agreement will be final until the two sides agree on details for the format of a town-meeting-style debate that Bush at first resisted but now is willing to endorse, the party representatives said.

The debates will be spread over two weeks just before the hectic homestretch of a bitter contest that had been tied for months until Bush recently opened a small lead in a number of national polls. The nominees will focus on foreign policy during the opening session, on Sept. 30 in Florida; they will take questions from undecided voters at the town-meeting-style debate Oct. 8 in Missouri; and they will conclude with a session on Oct. 13 in Arizona that will revolve around domestic issues.

<SNIP>

http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A34246-2004Sep19?language=printer

[rawstory]

14. Ah, so glad to see we don't allow Washington Post links...

Prefer to put the discussion under a Drudge post, without a link. What's the sense in that?

[jefferson_dem]

16. Sludge had only the header running for a while without link

Now, he's linked up with a legit news outlet.

[brooklynite]

15. Gee, you might call that a "flip-flop"

Bush's campaign, which opened the negotiations by urging just two sessions involving Bush and Kerry, yielded to the full slate of debates that had been proposed by the Commission on Presidential Debates, according to people in both parties who were briefed on the negotiations.

[johnfunk]

17. yeah, Drudge reports they'll debate Bill Clinton's Love Child...

n/t

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

19. Reuters Link

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=615&e=3&u=/nm/20040920/pl_nm/campaign_debates_dc

The Post said in a report on its Web site the Bush campaign had yielded to the full slate of debates recommended by the bipartisan Commission on Presidential Debates. Bush's campaign had wanted to limit the debates to two presidential ones and a vice presidential debate.

The Bush campaign denied any deal had been reached. "No agreement has been reached," said a campaign spokesman, Reed Dickens. "When there is agreement, we will announce it."

The Post said no agreement would be final until the two sides agree on details for the format of an Oct. 8 town-meeting-style debate that Bush had resisted but now is willing to endorse.

The Post said Baker agreed to all three debates in part because of Missouri's importance as a swing state and because the president "did not want to be portrayed as ducking his opponent."

[VolcanoJen]

20. Locking... now that the story has been picked up by the AP...

... let's de-Drudge and continue discussion in this new LBN thread:

Bush, Kerry Tentatively OK Three Debates

Thanks!

VolcanoJen
DU Moderator