Debating the Debates

After five 90-min. sessions in Washington, aides to both Walter Mondale and Ronald Reagan shook hands last week. And with that gesture, their debate over the televised debates ended. The presidential candidates will meet in two Sunday-evening encounters. The first, which will deal with domestic issues, will take place on Oct. 7 in Louisville; the second, centering on foreign and defense policy, is scheduled for Oct. 21 in Kansas City. The vice-presidential candidates, George Bush and Geraldine Ferraro, will go head-to-head on Oct. 11 in Philadelphia.

The debates may be the Democrats' last best hope to gain substantial political ground. The power of the President's charm will be diminished, Democrats hope, when he speaks at length on matters of substance. Moreover, Mondale adherents dream of Reagan blundering during the debates, making some significant misstatement of fact. The White House preferred to hold no debates at all, but Reagan's political advisers feared that an outright refusal would make their man look evasive.

The Republicans, led by White House Chief of Staff James Baker, were most concerned about structure and tone: they wanted to avoid the kind of highly charged, confrontational exchanges that Mondale had last spring with his Democratic rivals. Mondale Campaign Chairman James Johnson and his colleagues were insistent about timing: they wanted long debates late in the campaign. Each side got what it most wanted. Said a member of Reagan's team: "We gave up a little in terms of dates and stood our ground on the question of format." In the debates, four journalists will each ask two questions; the candidates, standing at a podium, will respond to the same eight questions. Reagan and Mondale will get three chances to address each topic, initially with a 2 1/2-min. answer, then with a 1-min. follow-up and rebuttal. As Mondale wished, the second presidential debate is scheduled to come after the diversionary hubbub of the World Series, and the encounters will last 90 min. apiece. Each camp is gloating over a minor tactical triumph. The first debate will be on the same night as a nationwide Mondale fund-raising effort in more than 13,000 households; the second is scheduled to be televised opposite an N.F.L. game, which the Reaganites happily believe will draw millions of viewers away from the debate.

The staff discussions were peaceable. There was, however, one brief moment of high tension. In jest, a White House adviser suggested that a secret Kremlin summit was in the works. Said he of a debate date: "Maybe we can do it on the day we get back from Moscow." After a bewildered second or two, the Democrats chuckled. Nervously.