Breaking The Logjam, Maybe

This week should reveal whether the debate over debates is truly over.

Representatives from George W. Bush's campaign are expected to meet with their counterparts from Al Gore's team and officials from the Commission on Presidential Debates. Until late last week, the GOP nominee for the White House had balked at the bipartisan panel's timetable for debates. But that changed as the debate over debates hurt their candidate more than Gore.

"We're working on putting it together. I look very much forward to sitting down with both campaigns and talking about the plan," Janet Brown, the commission's executive director, told CBS News' Face The Nation.

The upcoming meeting will mark the first time the Bush camp sits down with the Commission. Previous invitations from the panel had been rebuffed by the Texas governor's team. Brown also said on Sunday that the four debates already set by the Commission should be the starting point for this week's talks.

"Our proposal was put out in January of this year. It involves three presidential, one vice presidential debates on dates that were very difficult to pick because of the Olympics being so late this year," she said. "The sites were selected after 18 months of work. And they are well under way with preparations."

At the same time, Brown hinted flexibility in format - something which the Bush camp will no doubt push in the talks.

"We've recommended that one of these be held with the candidates seated at a table with the moderator. I think there are a lot of different options that will provide good information to the viewers and listeners."

And what about the length of the debates, set to air on all the major networks in prime time?

"All debates since 1976 have been 90 minutes. The debates in 1960 were 60 minutes, but there were four of those. It's really less the question of the time of one individual debate than the time in the aggregate that you're giving to the discussion of the important issues, but I think we can work it out there," said Brown.

Also on Face The Nation, pollster John Zogby said the debate saga symbolizes how the Bush campaign has been off its political game in recent weeks.

Bush "got mired in this whole debate over debates which number one, people don't care about, and two, in the whole history of men and games, winners and losers, who is more likely to complain about the process? The guy who senses that he's winning or the guy who senses he is losing?"

Conservative columnist Paul Gigot of the Wall Street Journal argued it isn't too late for Bush to turn things around.

"There is still a big part of the electorate that wants a change," he said. "And with the economy being as good as it is, you think Al Gore would be even further ahead right now, but it's an even race and I think that Bush can still win this thing there. No question about it."

GOP consultan Linda DiVall concluded the presidential race will hinge on six key states in the Midwest, plus Florida.

Still, Bush "needs to understand that we're not going to win this election on character and solely restoring honesty and integrity in the White House," she added. "That works well in nailing down the base and they're there. Swing voters want to hear about Bush's vision for the future."