Candidate for president , Vice President al gore, and the republican candidate, governor george w. Bush of texas. Lets welcome the candidates now. Before proceeding tonight we would like to observe a moment of silence in memory of governor mel carnahan of missouri, who along with his son and his former chief of staff, died in a private plane crash last night near st. Louis. A reminder, as we continue now, that these debates are sponsored by the commission on president ial debates. The formats and the rules were worked out by the commission and the two campaigns. Tonights questions will be asked by st. Louis area voters who were identified as being uncommitted by the gallup organization. Earlier today each of them wrote a question on a small card like this. Those cards were collected and then given to me this afternoon. My job, under the rules of the evening, was to decide the order the questions will be asked and to call on the questioners accordingly. I also have the option of asking