WASHINGTON -- The campaigns of George Bush and Michael Dukakis reached a compromise Wednesday on the height of the podiums the men would use in their debate Sunday -- a crucial issue for the 6-foot-2 Republican and the 5-foot-8 Democrat.
A Bush campaign spokesman said aides to the shorter Dukakis wanted podiums between 42 inches and 44 inches high for each candidate, but the Bush staff insisted on nothing less than a 46-inch podium for the taller vice president.
The issue stood at an impasse until a compromise was reached Wednesday.
'We've reached agreement on podium sizes,' a Bush spokesman announced. Bush, who stands about 6-foot-2, will use a 48-inch podium and he said Dukakis, who stands 5-foot-8, will use a 41-inch podium and will stand on a small riser. Both podiums will be identical except for their heights.
Dukakis spokeswoman Lorraine Voles agreed that Bush would stand behind a 48-inch lecturn but said 'we haven't decided on the height of ours yet.'
Asked whether Dukakis would stand on a riser, as the Bush folks claimed, Voles said, 'We have that option but it hasn't been decided yet if he's going to stand on one.' She also did not know if the riser would be visible to the viewing audience or whether agreement was reached not to show it on television.
'Anything below 46 inches (high) would have been unacceptable to us,' the Bush spokesman said. 'We didn't give an inch but we got two instead.'
