As the campaign entered its final four weeks, the debate season began in earnest. The week started off with the presidential candidates heading to New England in preparation for Sunday night's debate. President Bill Clinton's activity lightened up toward the middle of the week to give Al Gore some room to shine in the vice presidential debate, while GOP nominee Bob Dole hit the key battleground states of New Jersey, Illinois and Ohio.

Dole and Clinton debate again on Wednesday -- look for less trail time early next week as they once again prepare to face off.

Clinton's Week

After popping up to Maine on Saturday, Clinton holed up in Chautauqua, N.Y., over the weekend to prepare for Sunday night's debate, but committed no campaigning, other than a brief bookstore visit, while he was there.

After the debate, Clinton headed to New Hampshire, where he thanked Dole for his civility the night before. New Hampshire is one of the few states that AllPolitics analysts Charles Cook and Stuart Rothenberg disagree on, with Rothenberg assigning its four electoral votes to the Republican column while Cook says the state leans Democratic.

Clinton kept his head down Tuesday and Wednesday, staying in Washington and allowing Gore and his debate to hold the media's attention.

Thursday was still Gore time as Clinton embarked on a whirlwind tour of Tennessee, Kentucky and Ohio. He met up with Gore in Knoxville, announced a big Internet-in-the-schools initiative, and spent a fair amount of the day praising Gore's performance against Kemp. "Last night it was Al Gore who sacked the quarterback," he said.

Clinton flew back to Washington Friday to prepare for Wednesday's debate and to celebrate his and Hillary Clinton's 21st wedding anniversary.

Here's how political analysts Charles Cook and Stuart Rothenberg rate the states Clinton visited this week:

Dole's Week

After preparing for his debate in Florida late last week, and debating in Hartford, Conn., Sunday night, Republican presidential nominee Bob Dole returned to the campaign trail Monday, flying to Newark, where he tore a page out of the Clinton '92 playbook and embarked on a two-day bus tour through New Jersey. He slipped over to New York City for a rally Monday night.

Throughout the bus trip, Dole trotted out a new line of attack: that Clinton can't be trusted to keep his promises. Radio and television ads released this week took the same tack. Dole hinted to questioners, who were urging him to be more aggressive in next week's debate, that he has a "surprise" in store for the president, but kept the details to himself.

Dole traveled to Illinois Wednesday to pay its 22 electoral votes a visit, and spent the day hitting rallies but making no big national news, instead allowing the vice presidential debate in St. Petersburg, Fla., to take center stage.

Thursday found Dole on a bus once more, this time in Ohio again. He was joined by running mate Jack Kemp and former joint chiefs of staff chairman Colin Powell, who Dole said would be "one of the stars of our new administration." But Dole stopped short of naming Powell as his choice for Secretary of State, as rumors had said he might. Dole said he was "very proud" of Kemp's performance the night before in the debate, deflecting criticism that Kemp wasn't aggressive enough.

Dole continued the trip Friday, hitting Clinton again on "trust" and singing with the Oak Ridge Boys.

Here's how Charles Cook and Stuart Rothenberg rate the states Dole visited this week:

Tracking The Candidates

• The Week Ending Oct. 4, 1996
• The Week Ending Sept. 27, 1996
• The Week Ending Sept. 20, 1996
• The Week Ending Sept. 13, 1996

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