Bush has his own mangled confrontations with the English language. He cannot get his tongue properly around the word "nuclear." He's talked about "Grecians" instead of Greeks, and of "cocoa" production in Columbia instead of coca, and of "inebriating" when he meant exhilarating. But he pokes fun in an engaging way about his own "Bushisms," and he brought the house down at a Gridiron Club dinner in Washington when, after joking about his stumbles, he thanked reporters for their "horspitality."

Bush is also no novice in debating, having out-pointed rivals when running for office in Texas, and been rated by audiences as more likable in his presidential debates with the sighing, eye-rolling Al Gore.

In a book — "The Greatest Communicator" — he has just written about Ronald Reagan, Richard Wirthlin, Reagan's pollster and chief strategist, says, "Ever since John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon squared off in the first ever televised presidential debate in 1960, the verbal sparring sessions between presidential candidates have produced some of the most exciting communicative events of presidential elections . . . . No matter how hard candidates prepare, debates are inherently unpredictable. More than that, for the candidate leading in the polls, they can be risky. Like the time Gerald Ford seemed to forget that Poland was a part of Eastern Europe. Or the time Lloyd Bentsen turned to a young Dan Quayle and boomed, 'You're no Jack Kennedy.' Or when Al Gore sighed endlessly into his microphone."

When Reagan prepared for his presidential candidates' debate with Jimmy Carter, according to Wirthlin he displayed the same kind of respect "a boxer shows another boxer. He recognized his opponent's talents and trained accordingly, all the while knowing that Carter the pugilist fully intended to knock him out." In the heat of debate, Reagan disarmed an attacking Jimmy Carter with a tilt of his head, a smile and his famous "There you go again" line.

Unpredictable the Bush-Kerry debates may be, but let us hope they end in Reagan-like amity.

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John Hughes is editor and chief operating officer of the Deseret Morning News. He is a former editor of the Christian Science Monitor, which syndicates this column, and he served as assistant secretary of state in the Reagan administration. E-mail: hughes@desnews.com