Bush, Kerry campaigns agree on three presidential debates

The campaigns of Republican President George W. Bush and his Democratic challenger, Senator John Kerry, on Monday agreed on three presidential debates.

A joint statement issued by Vernon Jordan and James Baker, respectively representing the Kerry-John Edwards and the Bush-Dick Cheney campaigns, said Bush and Kerry would participate in three debates.

The first debate is on Sept. 30 at the University of Miami, Florida, the second on Oct. 8 at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, and the third at Arizona State University in Tempe, Arizona on Oct. 13, the statement said.

The first debate would be on foreign policy and homeland security, the second on all subjects, and the third would focus on domestic and economic policy.

On Oct. 5, Vice President Cheney would debate Senator Edwards, the Democratic vice presidential nominee, on all topics at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio.

"President Bush's campaign and Senator Kerry's campaign have entered into a memorandum of understanding that will govern these debates," the statement said.

The statement said the debates would "provide an opportunity for President Bush and Senator Kerry to have a serious discussion about the important issues to be decided in this election."

The two sides had worked to produce an agreement to ensure a "productive and fruitful exchange of ideas about the most important issues facing Americans today," and both Bush and Kerry were looking forward to the debates, the statement said.

The debates are sponsored by the Commission of Presidential Debates, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that was established in 1987 and has sponsored all the presidential debates since 1988.

The commission said last week that it needed an agreement by Monday in order to arrange the events.

The 2004 US presidential election is to be held on Nov. 2.