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Bush looking forward to debating Gore: So are all

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	Republican presidential candidate Texas Gov. George W. Bush, right, visits with the Michigan State mascot Sparty during a rally in East Lansing, Mich., Saturday, Aug. 5, 2000. (AP Photo/Eric Gay) AP / UNB

August 7, 2000 

DETROIT (AP) - With the Republican convention over, Republican presidential nominee George W. Bush said he is now eager for one-on-one debates with Vice President Al Gore.

"I view it as an opportunity to talk about what I believe for the country," Bush said in an interview with The Associated Press aboard his campaign train.

He suggested he could more than hold his own, even though he views Gore as "a very good debater."

"The first thing about a debate is to know what you believe. And I know what I believe," he said.

Bush and running mate Dick Cheney were on a three-day post-convention campaign through important swing states, much of it done by rail.

As their train rumbled across Western Pennsylvania and into Ohio on Friday, Bush said: "I think it's going to be healthy for our country to have debates. And we'll have debates." The bipartisan Commission on Presidential Debates has tentatively set three presidential debates.

Meanwhile, Gore was in Washington addressing a convention of the National Association of Police Organizations. He credited officers what he described as the longest sustained decline in crime ever recorded in the United States.

Democratic presidential candidate Vice President Al Gore talks to reporters Saturday, Aug. 5, 2000, at the airport in West Hampton, N.Y. Gore is spending time on Long Island attending fund-raisers. (AP Photo/Jim Cole) AP / UNB

"Some say the age of heroes has passed. I say look around this room. Heroism is a part of your job description," Gore said Saturday.

Earlier in the day, Gore's campaign announced he would embark on a "Going the Distance Tour" heavy with highlights of his life story, and stressing his position on the environment, welfare reform, tax relief, health care and other issues.

The tour will sweep Gore, the vice president and former senator from Tennessee, from his hometown of Carthage through southern and Midwest battleground states, to a "handing of the baton" from President Bill Clinton in Michigan, and finally, to the Democratic National Convention on Aug. 16 to accept the presidential nomination, spokesman Chris Lehane said Saturday.

The vice president also continued to dangle the possibility of a "wild card" running mate, whose selection he will announce Tuesday in Tennessee. He is trying to create some drama and deflate any bounce in the polls that Bush might gain from his just-finished Republican National Convention.

Bush leads Gore by 11 percentage points in two national polls of registered voters taken after the Republican National Convention.

A Newsweek poll released Saturday showed Bush ahead of Gore 49 percent to 38 percent while Green Party candidate Ralph Nader had 5 percent and Pat Buchanan, a Reform Party hopeful, had 1 percent. An NBC poll taken Thursday night also gave Bush an 11-point lead.

Gore will get a chance to shift the poll numbers in his favor over the next two weeks as he picks a running mate and then goes to Los Angeles for the Democratic National Convention.

The Newsweek poll of 817 registered voters was conducted Thursday and Friday and has a margin of error of 4 percentage points.