GENE RANDALL, CNN ANCHOR: And reviewing one of our top stories this hour, Republican presidential candidate George W. Bush has set up a debate schedule which he says he is prepared to accept. The first debate on September 12, he says, would be on a primetime edition of "Meet the Press" on NBC; the second one, October 3 in Los Angeles on "LARRY KING LIVE" here on CNN; and October 17 in St. Louis, the only one of the three presidential debates proposed by the Commission on Debates that Bush says he is prepared to accept. He also proposed two vice presidential debates, the first one on October 11 in Winston- Salem, North Carolina, the second one to be determined. Is there a response yet from the Gore campaign? Let's go to Jonathan Karl -- Jonathan.</s>JONATHAN KARL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Gene, the immediate response is a negative response from Vice President Gore. He stopped short of outright rejecting Bush's proposal, but he called it very disappointing that Bush did not go with the three presidential debates proposed by the Commission on Presidential Debates. He said this is a very disappointing development and suggested that Bush was trying to deprive the American people of seeing the two debates, saying that he was looking for a debate format that would not attract as many people as the commission debates. So that's what we have right now, not an outright rejection, but clearly a sign that Vice President Gore is holding out for the vice presidential -- for the Presidential Commission debates. Back to you, Gene.</s>RANDALL: Jonathan, enjoy that round-the-clock workathon.
Gore Campaign Responds Negatively to Bush's Suggested Presidential Debate Schedule