Well, Jim, first of all, I would like to thank the sponsors of this debate and the people of Boston for hosting the debate. I would like to thank Governor...

Well, we do come from different places. I come from being a West Texas. The governor is the chief executive officer. We know how to set agendas as a...

Yes, Jim. I said that his tax cut plan, for example, raises the question of whether it's the right choice for the country. And let me give you an example...

Let me just say that obviously tonight we're going to hear some phony numbers about what I think and what we ought to do. People need to know that over...

Yes. I take him for his word. Look, I fully recognize I'm not of Washington. I'm from Texas. And he's got a lot of experience, but so do I. And I've...

Three-and-a-half minutes is up. New question. Governor Bush, you have a question. This is a companion question to the question I asked Vice President...

One minute rebuttal.

I guess my answer to that is the man is running on Medi-scare. Trying to frighten people into the voting booth. It's not what I think and it's not my...

I cannot let this go by, the old-style Washington politics, if we're going to scare you in the voting booth. Under my plan the man gets immediate help...

They get $25,000 a year income, that makes them ineligible.

One quick thing, gentlemen. These are your rules. I'm doing my best. We're way over the three minutes. I have no problems with it. We're over the three-and-a-half....

Let me ask you both this and we'll move on on the subject. As a practical matter, both of you want to bring prescription drugs to seniors, correct?

Correct.

That's totally false for him to stand up here and say that. Let me make sure the seniors hear me loud and clear. They have had their chance to get something...

Wait a minute. All seniors are covered under prescription drugs in my plan.

If we can get it done in the first year, you bet.

I have an idea. If you have any more to say about this, you can say it in your closing statements and we'll move on, okay? New question. Vice President...

It's an issue I know a lot about. I was a small oil person for a while in west Texas. This is an administration that's had no plan. And all of a sudden...

Let me clarify. I'm for doing something both on the supply side and production side and on the consumption side. Let me say, that I found one thing...

Well I would first say he should have been tackling it for the last seven years. The difference is we need to explore at home. And the vice president...

It's the right thing for the consumers. Less dependency upon foreign sources of crude is good for consumers. And we can do so in an environmentally...

I don't think a president can do that. I was disappointed in the ruling because I think abortions ought to be more rare in America, and I'm worried...

Well, Jim, the FDA took 12 years, and I do support that decision. They determined it was medically safe for the women who use that drug. This is indeed...

I don't think a president can unilaterally overturn it. The FDA has made its decision.

I think once a decision has been made, it's been made unless it's proven to be unsafe to women.

I said I would make sure that women would be safe who used the drug.

I am pro-life.

The voters should assume I have no litmus test on that issue or any other issue. Voters will know I'll put competent judges on the bench. People who...

We both use similar language to reach an exactly opposite outcome. I don't favor a litmus test, but I know that there are ways to assess how a potential...

It sounds like he's not very right tonight. I just told you the criteria on which I'll appoint judges. I have a record of appointing judges in the State...

It would be likely that they would uphold Roe v. Wade. I do believe it's wrong to use a litmus test. If you look at the history of a lower court judge's...

Vice President Gore, if President Milosevic of Yugoslavia refuses to leave office, what action, if any, should the United States take to get him out...

Governor Bush, one minute.

What if he doesn't leave? What if all the diplomatic efforts, all the pressure and he still doesn't go? Is this the kind of thing, and be specific,...

Well obviously we wouldn't use the Russians if they didn't agree with our answer, Mr. Vice President. Let me say this to you, I wouldn't use force....

No.

It's not in our national interest to use force. I would use pressure and diplomacy. There is a difference what the president did in Kosovo and this....

Well, if it's in our vital national interest, and that means whether our territory is threatened or people could be harmed, whether or not the alliances...

I want to make it clear, our military is the strongest, best-trained, best-equipped, best-led fighting force in the world and in the history of the...

Vice President Gore, how should the voters go about deciding which one of you is better suited to make the kinds of decisions, whether it's Milosevic...

Governor, how would you advise the voters to make the decision on this issue?

If I could say one thing.

One of the key points in foreign policy and national security policy is the need to establish the old-fashioned principle that politics ought to stop...

Yeah. Why haven't they done it in seven years?

Oh, absolutely. This is a very important moment in the history of our country. Look, we've got the biggest surpluses in all of American history. The...

The man is practicing fuzzy math again. There's differences. Under Vice President Gore's plan, he is going to grow the federal government in the largest...

I want to see if he buys that.

No, I don't, and I'm not going to go to calling names on his facts. I'm just gonna tell you what the real facts are. The analysis that he's talking...

Not so.

Having cleared that up, we're going to a new question. Education. Governor Bush. Both of you have promised dramatically to change -- to change dramatically...

We agree on a couple of things on education. I strongly support new accountability, so does Governor Bush. I strongly support local control, so does...

The first is, the difference is there is no new accountability measures in Vice President Gore's plan. He says he's for voluntary testing. You can't...

Wait a minute, Governor.

I didn't say that.

New question. We've been talking about a lot of specific issues. It's often said that in the final analysis about 90% of being the President of the...

Governor Bush?

New question. There can be all kinds of crises, Governor. A questions for you. There could be a crisis, for instance, in the financial area, the stock...

Vice President Gore?

So, Governor, would you agree there is no basic difference here on intervening -- on federal government intervening in what might be seen by others...

Can I comment on that?

You know, I think the American people deserve credit for the great economy that we have. It's their ingenuity, I agree with that. But you know, they...

If I could respond, Jim. What he's quoting is not the Senate Budget Commiitte, it is a partisan press release by the Republicans on the Senate Budget...

I thought we cleared this up a while ago. New question on Social Security. Both of you have Social Security reform plans, so we could spend the rest...

Many experts, including Federal Reserve Chairman Greenspan, Vice President Gore, say that it will be impossible for either of you, essentially, to keep...

I thought it was interesting that on the two minutes he spent about a million-and-a-half on my plan, which means he doesn't want you to know what he's...

No. There's enough money to pay seniors today in the current affairs of Social Security. The trillion comes from the surplus. Surplus is money -- more...

We're almost out of time.

This is a government that thinks a 2% rate of return on your money is satisfactory. It's not. This is a government that says younger workers can't possibly...

The man loves his wife and I appreciate that a lot. And I love mine. The man loves his family a lot, and I appreciate that, because I love my family....

I think we ought to attack our country's problems, not attack each other. I want to spend my time making this country even better than it is, not trying...

They ought to factor in it when they go to the voting booth.

I think people need to be held responsible for the actions they take in life. I think that -- well, I think that's part of the need for a cultural change....

No. I think the American people should take into account who we are as individuals, what our experience is, what our positions are on the issues and...

Senator McCain -- hold on one second. Senator McCain said in August, "It doesn't matter which one of you is President of the United States in January,...

Look, Governor Bush, you have attacked my character and credibility and I am not going to respond in kind. I think we ought to focus on the problems...

On that wonderful note of disagreement, we have to stop here and we want to go now to your closing statements. Governor Bush is first. You have two...

Vice President Gore, two minutes.

We will continue this dialogue next week on October 11th at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. The format then will be more informal,...