Bush and Gore Spar on Policies, Not Personalities at First Debate

BOSTON--Texas Governor George W. Bush and Vice President Al Gore '69 met in debate for the first time last night, engaging in relatively substantive exchanges that emphasized their significant differences on a range of social and economic policies.

The 90-minute debate, in a retrofitted gymnasium at the University of Massachusetts in South Boston, stayed mostly to the script. But while there was no defining moment of the contest, the two men managed to delineate their governing philosophies sharply.

Bush portrayed the vice president as a creature of Washington who does not trust the American people to spend the budget surplus themselves.

Gore stressed his depth and mastery of policy issues, subtly questioning the wisdom and practicality of his opponent's policies.

Gore repeatedly used Bush's plans for the projected budget surplus to highlight a major difference between the two candidates, arguing that Bush's plan would use a large proportion of the surplus for tax cuts that would benefit only the very rich.

"Under Governor Bush's tax cut proposal, he would spend more money on tax cuts for the wealthiest one percent than all of the new spending he proposes for health care, prescription drug and national defense all combined," Gore said.

Bush retorted that Gore would enlarge the role and scope of the federal government with his proposals, and said the vice president's tax plan, which offers a range of targeted tax breaks, amounted to "picking and choosing" which Americans would benefit. He said that a single mother with two children earning about $22,000 would not benefit from Gore's tax cuts.

"His plan is three times larger than President Clinton's proposed plan eight years ago," Bush said later. "It has expanded programs and created 20,000 more bureaucrats."

In a somewhat tense exchange, one that played to a purported weakness of the vice president's, Bush tried to refute Gore's allegations about his tax cut and prescription drug benefit plans, saying Gore was using incorrect figures.

"This is a man who's got great numbers," Bush said. "I'm beginning to think he not only invented the Internet but he invented the calculator. It's fuzzy math."

Gore stared ahead icily and later castigated his opponent for the comment.

Bush argued that he would change the tone of Washington through his leadership and make both parties work together, which he said has not happened during the Clinton-Gore administration. He bragged about his reputation in Texas governing circles as a bipartisan consensus-maker.

"I've been the chief executive officer of the second biggest state in the union, and I have a record of working with both Republicans and Democrats," Bush said.

"They had a chance to get something done," he said. "I'm going to work with Democrats and Republicans."

The two also sparred on the question of energy policy, which has become an issue with recent oil shortages and high oil prices. Gore said that he would focus more on changing consumption patterns, while Bush emphasized his position that the country should become less dependent on other countries for oil by doing more exploration in the United States.

"Today we import one million barrels of oil from Saddam Hussein," Bush said. "I would rather have it come from our own country...Less dependency is good for consumers."

Gore retorted that finding new sources of oil in places like Alaska would hurt the environment.

"It would only give us a few months of oil," Gore said. "I don't think it's a fair price to pay to destroy precious parts of America's environment."

The recent FDA approval of the RU-486 pill made the thorny issue of abortion a talking point at the debate as well. While Bush, who opposes abortion rights, said he would not try to overturn the approval if he was president, he said he was against a culture that accepts more abortions and restated his opposition to partial-birth abortion.

Gore said that the pill was safe and that women should be allowed to keep the right to choose, which he would uphold with his potential appointments to the Supreme Court.

"I trust women to make the decisions that affect their lives, their destinies and their bodies," Gore said.

The rest of the debate ranged from discussions of approaches to foreign policy to the state of the military to education.

Bush attacked Gore near the end of the debate when questioned about Gore's credibility on campaign finance reform.

"I think there needed a better sense of responsibility of what was going on in the White House," Bush said, referring to allegations of improper actions involving Gore's visit to a Buddhist temple. "I've been disappointed about how he and his administration has conducted fundraising affairs."

Gore did not respond to the attack, saying he did not want to make the debate personal.

"You have attacked my character and credibility," Gore said. "I think we ought to attack our country's problems, not attack each other. You may want to focus on scandals. I want to focus on results."

The two used their closing remarks to reemphasize messages that they have focused on since their respective conventions, with both saying the current election will decide the future direction of the country.

"I want to go to Washington to get some positive things done," Bush said. "It's going to require a new spirit."

"We are at a fork in the road," Gore said.

A more immediate task was at hand last night. With most polls showing Gore with a lead well within margins of error, the two candidates are fighting for the roughly 10 percent of the electorate who are undecided.

The debates gave Bush and Gore their first chance since the conventions to reach a mass audience. Debate organizers estimated that about 75 million Americans would tune in.

So, nothing was left to chance.

Bush toured the debate site for about an hour yesterday morning, spending most of the day in a hotel near Logan Airport.

Gore zipped in and out of the U-Mass campus in the late afternoon, his motorcade leaving South Boston just minutes before a wave of union supporters arrived.

Inside the cavernous gymnasium, engineers set the temperature at an agreed-upon 59 degrees Fahrenheit while technicians adjusted lights to ensure that neither candidate would suffer from glare.

Even the candidates found themselves micro-managed.

The debate prep rooms at the gymnasium were identical, down to the volume of sunlight that shone through the windows. Bush and Gore were not allowed to bring any notes with them--the Commission on Presidential Debates supplied pre-approved pencils and papers for them to sketch ideas.

During the debate, Bush stood to the moderator's right, facing his family and friends who were seated about twenty feet away. Gore stood stage left, his gaze finding his own family and supporters. No staffers were allowed backstage--there simply wasn't enough room.

Jim Johnson, a former top aide to Walter Mondale who chaired the Gore team responsible for negotiating the debates, said yesterday that the balance of topics the questions would address had been agreed upon by both campaigns.

To a class from the Kennedy School of Government on a special tour of the debate site yesterday afternoon, Johnson also described a coin toss to decide who would speak first.

Toward the end of the negotiations, representatives from the campaigns flipped a coin. The winner could choose one of four options; to be asked the first question, to be asked the second question, to deliver the first closing statement and to deliver the final closing statement.

Bush won, but to the Gore campaign's delight, he chose to give the first closing statement, allowing Gore to be asked the first question by moderator Jim Lehrer.

"It was a complete surprise to us," Johnson said. "Vice President Gore was very eager to be the first person who started out."