Editorial: Loitering over the debates

Friday, Aug. 25, 2000 | 10:01 a.m.

Republican standard-bearer George W. Bush doesn't look very presidential in light of his hemming and hawing regarding the prospect of debates with the Democratic presidential nominee, Al Gore. Election Day is slightly more than two months away, but Bush is wasting what little time there is left by getting bogged down in the details of when and where the debates should occur. In addition, Bush only believes a total of three debates are necessary, which is too few considering the stakes of this election. Gore takes a much different approach -- he says he's willing to debate twice a week if necessary.

Bush frequently refuses to provide details of what he would do as president, partly because he knows if he is specific, his conservative views might end up alienating moderates, a crucial voting bloc. Instead he hides from a frank discussion of the issues, which would include debates. For Gore, his willingness to debate contains risk. After all, Gore is the de facto incumbent in this race, having served as vice president for eight years. Gore, unlike Bush, will have to defend this administration's policies.

But Bush's content-light campaign is starting to hurt him with voters. And during his acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention, Gore laid out a lengthy, detailed list of what he would do as president -- and he promptly was rewarded with a considerable bounce in the polls. It's time for Bush to acknowledge that the public deserves to have the candidates debate the critical issues -- tax policies, debt reduction, education, Social Security reform, a patient's bill of rights and many others.