Candidates' Final Face-To-Face Encounter Tonight

SAN DIEGO (Oct. 16) -- Tonight American voters get their last chance to see the major party presidential candidates together. It is a final opportunity to size them up, side by side, and the stakes are much higher for GOP nominee Bob Dole.

The Dole campaign called the Oct. 6 debate in Hartford the real beginning of the campaign. But, when it ended, viewer polls found President Bill Clinton had won by a wide margin.

The matchup between Vice President Al Gore and GOP hopeful Jack Kemp in St. Petersburg, Fla., produced similar numbers for the Democrats. Dole, criticized by some in his own party for being too soft in Hartford, is suggesting this time will be different.

Listen to his tone in San Diego on Tuesday. "I don't know of any administration (that) has been more self righteous. But few administrations have been more self-serving. No administration has shown more arrogance, but few have displayed more ethical failures." (288K WAV sound)

Still, it could be tough to be harsh with Clinton by his side and a gathering of voters in front.

So said conservative pundit Pat Buchanan this morning on NBC's "Today" show, who suggested harsh criticisms are best done by "Republican ads and Republican surrogates. It's tough to do when you're sitting beside the president of the United States in person," Buchanan said.

The president, meanwhile, will find himself in the debate setting he likes best, a town hall format he used to great advantage four years ago. The Gallup polling group has selected 120 uncommitted voters who will have the opportunity to ask the candidates unscripted questions, aided by news anchor Jim Lehrer, who moderated the first presidential debate.

What's at stake for Clinton? Many Democratic strategists say not much -- look for a holding action.

"He's great at talking to people," said Mark Mellman, a Democratic pollster. "That's his strength. But at the end of the day, all the president has to do is run out at the clock at this point."

Clinton will almost certainly face a Dole assault on trust and ethics. This was part of the San Diego warmup.

"A president who has betrayed your trust has not won your vote," Dole said Tuesday. "In my view, it is that simple."

How far can Dole carry those issues tonight before risking a boomerang effect?

Says Democratic pollster Harrison Hickman: "If Bob Dole goes too far, Bob Dole may do what no one in the Clinton White House has been successful in, and that is turn President Clinton into a victim."

William Kristol, editor of the conservative opinion journal "The Weekly Standard," notes: "Dole might have an opportunity to say, you know, I'm sorry, I really feel it's important to say the truth. I'm not going to stand by passively and let this man degrade and diminish the office of the presidency. So the risk is there for Dole, but there is also a great opportunity."

Finally, the setting for all this is California. While Clinton remains ahead in the polls, Dole appears ready to make a major challenge here.

"It's a plausible strategy, I think, only in that there is no more plausible strategy at this point," says John Marelius of The San Diego Union-Tribune. "If he is so far behind in so many states, then, in an odd sort of way, maybe it makes sense to put all the chips on the table in California and roll the dice and see what happens."

Answers to questions will be 90 seconds each, with 60-second rebuttals followed by 30-second responses to those rebuttals. Opening and closing statements will be two minutes each. Dole goes first, while the president will get the last word of the evening.

Candidates' Final Face-To-Face Encounter Tonight

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