A18 A senior adviser to Mr. Gore accused Gov. George W. Bush of trying to dodge, or at least minimize the impact of, presidential debates, while one of Mr. Bush's top aides said the governor was willing to debate but was still considering more than 40 invitations from an array of potential sponsors.
Political science research is divided on the impact of presidential debates — the one in Denver clearly seemed to matter quite a bit — but there is even less evidence that vice-presidential debates can sway voters.
The data in the chart should be similar to a previous analysis that I did about the impact of presidential debates, but I've had to be a little more careful to resolve a potential ambiguity.
But by not yet agreeing to the commission's debates and publicly entertaining other options, Mr. Bush has opened himself to accusations by aides to Vice President Al Gore that he is trying to minimize the impact of the debates or contrive formats tailor-made to his preferences and strengths.
A scrupulous timeline, along with artifacts (some lent by the Museum of the Confederacy), chronicles the economic impact of slavery, debates about secession, westward expansion, the North's mixed motives, the Emancipation Proclamation, General Sherman's onslaught, the flawed Reconstruction, the evolving modern nation.
They said that because of Mr. Gore's reputation as an adept debater, the story line accompanying Mr. Bush's desire for alternate formats was bound to pivot on the question of whether he was trying to minimize the impact of the debates.
When asked what he thought about the impact of the debates this year, Beau Biden, the current attorney general of Delaware and son of Vice President Joe Biden, started talking about the fact that his father has taken part in two of the most watched vice presidential debates.
Accuracy hardly figures in the expectations of the impact of the debate.
He says that Grant Shapps, the Conservative chairman, was in the chamber earlier because of the impact of the debate on his party's fortunes.
