Voters tuning in to the first 2004 presidential debate Thursday may be expecting a freewheeling give-and-take between the candidates, but the occasion will actually be one of the most carefully structured events of the campaign.
The rules for the three presidential debates were negotiated between representatives of Sen. John F. Kerry and President Bush in a 32-page memorandum of understanding, and they leave little room for spontaneity.
They specify, among other things, that the candidates cannot pose questions directly to each other and that the moderators must use specific language when cutting off long-winded answers.
The two campaigns haggled over the temperature of the room, how far the men could wander from their lecterns and how a colored light would alert them if they went over their allotted time. The candidates can bring paper and pens or pencils, but all of the items must be submitted ahead of time so they can be placed on the lecterns, each of which will be constructed and placed to Kerry-Bush specifications.
Though past campaigns have made similar agreements, the 2004 debate rules between Kerry and Bush are the most detailed and far-reaching of any election, and have rankled political observers who say the candidates are attempting to control media coverage.
Under the agreement, which also covers the Oct. 5 vice presidential debate, television cameras cannot show one candidate while the other is speaking or broadcast images of the audience's response -- prohibitions that the networks have rejected.
Political experts said the campaigns' micro-management of the debates undermined their value.
"This is a parody of what real civic give-and-take is and could be in America," said Martin Kaplan, director of USC's Norman Lear Center, which studies the intersection of politics and entertainment.
"What we're desperate for is some really serious discussion, beyond the sound bites, about the problems the country is facing," he said. "Instead, what we've guaranteed is an exchange of bumper sticker slogans."
The nonpartisan Commission on Presidential Debates, which sponsors and produces the events, has not signed the agreement, as requested by the Kerry and Bush campaigns. But in a statement posted on its website Monday, the commission said it would enforce the guidelines and not depart from them without the approval of the campaigns.
