Preparing For The Home Stretch

With November 7th so close they can feel it and the final debate coming up on Tuesday, Republican George W. Bush is back at his ranch in Texas, where he'll squeeze in a quick interview, while Vice President Al Gore found time to stump in Michigan between official duties.

But Gore headed from Detroit back to Washington on Saturday in time to catch his son's high school football game. The visit to home and hearth was just a pit stop, however. On Sunday evening, the Democratic presidential candidate will be in St. Louis for final preparations for Tuesday's third and final debate with Bush.

Gore's quick campaign hop to the Detroit area's Arab-American community of 300-thousand on Saturday came against the backdrop of the volatile Middle East.

The vice president had canceled a meeting on Friday with Michigan's Arab-American activists to attend a White House national security meeting with Clinton, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, and Defense Secretary William Cohen.

The high-level huddle was called to address the apparent terrorist bombing of a U.S. Navy warship in Yemen and over two weeks of escalating violence between Israelis and Palestinians.

On the campaign trail Saturday, Gore touched on President Clinton's announcement that he would attend the peace summit convening Monday in Egypt in an attempt to end two weeks of deadly clashes between Israelis and Palestinians.

"I think we need a lot of prayers to make sure that meeting is a success," said Gore, as he stumped in Michigan.

Mostly, this campaign weekend was time for the candidates to rest up and prepare for the homestretch battle ahead.

After what an aide called "a powerful week" and a confidence boost from daily tracking polls giving the Texas governor a slight edge over the vice president, Bush spent a quiet Saturday at his Texas ranch, planning to break for an interview with a Spanish language network.

But he'll be back in debate preparation mode Sunday, as he returns to the governor's mansion in Austin.

Unlike the first matchup in which the candidates stood at lecterns, or the second where they sat at a curved table, Tuesday's debate in St. Louis will be held in town meeting style. Both Bush and Gore will be free to walk about the stage or perch on stools during the 90-minute question-and-answer session with the audience and moderator Jim Lehrer.