Preparation
Bill Clinton and Bob Dole ready to square off

The Invitation List
Third parties not welcome

The Format Fight
Clinton and Dole camps struggle to agree

Taking Issue
What will the candidates say, and which issues will they avoid?

What's At Stake?
The election is in a month. What can the debates do?

Debate Night Countdown

The road to the debate has been bumpy from Clinton-Dole fighting and third parties trying to spoil their fun

By Kathleen Hayden/AllPolitics

HARTFORD, Conn. (AllPolitics, Oct., 6) -- Just hours before President Bill Clinton and Republican candidate Bob Dole face off in the first debate of the 1996 election, the campaigns have been playing the expectations game and engaging in some last-minute campaign posturing.

After several days of intense preparation, both candidates arrive in Hartford today anxious to get on with the event. The president spent the flight there playing cards with aides. White House Press Secretary Mike McCurry joked that the president "wanted to do one thing today he was sure he could win."

Dole got a good nine hours of sleep last night and says he's as ready as he's going to be. The Dole campaign says it is not worried about his double-digit disadvantage in the polls with only four weeks to Election Day. Dole Campaign Manager Scott Reed called tonight's match-up a "great start to the campaign."

There have been reports that Republicans plan to place in a front row a person, or people, who could make Clinton uncomfortable, perhaps former White House Travel Office Director Billy Dale, who was fired by Clinton. Clinton-Gore Press Secretary Joe Lockhart said such a move would be "the oldest, sorriest play in the game." And there had been some talk, apparently off the mark, that Dole would announce during the debate that he planned to name retired Gen. Colin Powell as his Secretary of State.

Clinton/Gore campaign manager Peter Knight told CNN's "Late Edition" the president's biggest worry Sunday night will be questions focusing on his character. "The issue of character is going to come up," Knight said. "And the Dole campaign has indicated they are going after character."

Clinton, Dole Restless For Debate To Start (Oct. 5)

Dole: Tanned, Rested, Ready As He's Going To Be (Oct. 4)

Clinton Continues His Debate Prep (Oct. 4)

P R E P A R A T I O N

Dole's campaign is pinning plenty of hopes on the debates, given the amount of time devoted to preparation. The campaign has spent the better part of the last 10 days getting the candidate ready, which meant sacrificing precious time on the campaign trail. They have holed up in places like the Dole's Bal Harbour, Fla., condominium, where the strategy was to have Dole "tanned, rested and ready" for Sunday's match. "Getting sun is part of my preps," a tan Dole joked.

During the week the ex-senator was drilled on facts and figures and practiced in mock debates. Sen. Fred Thompson (R-Tenn.), a former actor, played the part of Bill Clinton, while Press Secretary Nelson Warfield assumed Jim Lehrer's role as moderator. Former President George Bush, the last Republican to debate Clinton, visited the Doles in Florida Saturday to offer advice and moral support.

The president left the White House Thursday for secluded Chautauqua, N.Y., where he managed to fit some golf and bookstore browsing around his preparation time. He was joined there by former Sen. George Mitchell, who played Dole in practice debates. These rehearsals simulated Sunday night's conditions, taking place in an air-conditioned auditorium at night and running for the prescribed 90 minutes. First Lady Hillary Clinton did not attend the sessions because they make her nervous. After the first round, Clinton told reporters, "Senator Mitchell won last night." Since then Clinton has claimed improvement and says he is ready.

Both men have tried to lower expectations, and the stakes, for tonight's debate. Last week, Dole said, "All the pundits say Bill Clinton's gonna clean my clock, so if I show up, we win." And Clinton aides have expressed concern that last week's Mideast summit cut into the President's valuable prep time. Even Hillary Clinton praised former Sen. Dole's experience, saying, "For more than 35 years, he was in Congress. He was a very good debater, so I expect it's going to be a very tough debate for my husband."

But no excuses are likely to be accepted if one candidate falters tonight. Though Dole has not debated in a national forum since his 1976 vice-presidential match-up against Democratic candidate Walter Mondale, he has had more recent debate experience during primary season than the unchallenged Clinton. And the president has been unable to escape high expectations, with some 70 percent of those interviewed in a recent survey expecting him to beat Dole in the debates.

T H E  I N V I T A T I O N  L I S T

Reform Party candidate Ross Perot has once again provided an element of drama to the campaign through his bid to be included in the debates. Though he was on stage in 1992 with Bush and Clinton, Perot was bounced this year by the Commission on Presidential Debates, which ruled last month that Perot, and all other third-party hopefuls, did not have a "realistic chance" of winning this year's election and did not qualify to be included.

The Perot camp was outraged and quickly filed a still-pending complaint with the Federal Election Commission and a lawsuit to overturn the CPD's decision. He was joined in the action by Natural Law Party candidate John Hagelin. Lawyers for the candidates argued that the commission used criteria that went beyond federal regulations and that the FEC delegated its power to the private group.

But both the suit and the following appeal were rejected in federal court last week. Though Perot can file another lawsuit, it is too late to be heard before the first debate.

Perot has taken his case to the public, using national TV commercials to accuse both parties of working together to keep him out of the debate. He vowed Sunday to remain in the race and asked voters not to ignore his candidacy, even if he wasn't behind a debate podium.

The White House was disappointed by the ruling, but Dole was delighted by Perot's exclusion. That means he can go one-on-one with the president and raise his somewhat blurry national profile.

According to the most recent CNN tracking polls, Perot only receives five percent.

Campaigns Agree: Two debates, sans Perot (Sep. 21)

T H E  F O R M A T  F I G H T

Days of negotiations between Clinton and Dole teams finally yielded an agreement on the debate format. But the first scheduled debate had to be postponed because the two sides were deadlocked on the questions of when, how many and who would be on stage.

A schedule for three 90-minute prime-time meetings, including one between the vice presidential candidates, was ultimately worked out. Tonight's debate will be moderated by public TV broadcaster Jim Lehrer, who also served during two of the 1992 face-offs. The second, town hall format debate will be held Oct. 16 in San Diego. The vice presidential debate is sandwiched in between, on October 9 in St. Petersburg, Fla.

The final agreement was viewed as a victory for Clinton, who received the majority of his demands. Dole had wanted three presidential sessions, and one vice-presidential, each of which only lasted 75 minutes. He also wanted them to begin in late September and end closer to Election Day. The White House had also pushed for the second debate to be held in the town hall format that served the president so well in 1992. According to sources, that decision had to be made by a coin toss. Dole's one coup: no Perot.

Debate Issues Primer

Rate-O-Matic: Which candidate do you match with on the issues?

AllPolitics' Issues Guide

T A K I N G  I S S U E

After months of campaigning, the themes of the two campaigns have already been set. Dole will invoke the L-word, labeling the president a closet liberal and attacking him on the drugs and character issue, while Clinton will say that America has been on the right track and that another four years will give his administration a chance to "build a bridge to the 21st century."

Viewers are likely to see two well-prepped candidates reprising their favorite stump lines while hurling statistics back and forth. The rumored announcement that Dole might name Colin Powell as his likely Secretary of State has been denied, CNN reports.

The economy and taxes are the country's number one issues, and both men have answers. Clinton will tout the country's economic growth, citing improved unemployment, new homeowner and jobs figures, while Dole will urge voters to demand more and offers his 15-percent tax cut as a real solution.

Crime and drugs have been hot-button topics during the last month. Clinton has statistics to back up his claims of success at reducing crime rates, but Dole has turned the issue around to mock Clinton's drug record. The recent rise in teen drug use also gives the GOP an opening to the character issue, which the Dole camp has targeted in a TV spot featuring Clinton's quip to a question about not inhaling marijuana. It also gives Dole an opportunity to ask Clinton why he will not release a memo from the FBI criticizing the administration's anti-drug efforts.

For viewers who tune in for the blood sport of debates -- weird gaffes, unanswered charges, bursts of temper -- both candidates have strategies for providing drama. Clinton plans to repeat his personal respect for his opponent but attack the former senator's record. Dole is expected to go after the president's character, and raise questions about such scandals as Whitewater or Filegate, maybe with a little help from moderator Lehrer.

Clinton/Gore '96

Dole/Kemp '96

W H A T'S  A T  S T A K E ?

AllPolitics provides a full analysis of what the candidates need to say and what the viewer can expect from tonight's debate.