Candidates: Gary Bauer, George W. Bush, Steve Forbes, Orrin Hatch, Alan Keyes and John McCain.

Moderators: WHO-TV 13 news anchor John Bachman and NBC News anchor Tom Brokaw.

Audience: Approximately 2,400 free tickets distributed by the Republican Party of Iowa.

Format: "Open format."  Introductions and rules from the moderators.  No opening statements.  Moderators pose questions directly to the candidates; candidates allowed one minute to respond.  Option for follow-up questions, with responses limited to about 30 seconds.  A segment of candidate to candidate questioning.  One minute closing statements.

Broadcast: WHO-TV; MSNBC to a nationwide audience.

Overview: Iowa's first Republican presidential debate of the 2000 campaign.
 

1. WOI-TV 5, the ABC affiliate in Des Moines and a competitor to WHO-TV, had planned a debate for Dec. 11, but lacking commitments from Bush or McCain producers called it off.