Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry, visiting the site of one of the most famous political debates in US history, challenged President George W. Bush on Saturday to a "real discussion about America's future" in monthly debates.
Mr Kerry, already engaged in a running exchange of negative ads with Mr Bush before the November election, said, "America shouldn't have to put up with eight months of sniping."
"I believe the American people are hungry for a genuine conversation about the fundamental questions before us," Mr Kerry said in Quincy, Illinois, site of one of the seven historic Abraham Lincoln-Stephen Douglas debates.
The 1858 senatorial debates between Douglas and Lincoln, who lost the Senate race but won the presidency two years later, are legendary in US political history for their reasoned discussion of burning issues like slavery and states' rights in the period before the Civil War.
Mr Kerry said modern candidates "find it easier to exchange insults than to face issues" and called for a campaign that "honors the best in America."
"Surely, if the attack ads can start now at least we can agree to start a real discussion about America's future," Mr Kerry said, trying to take the high road early in a campaign already marked by bitter charges and counterattacks.
Mr Bush and Mr Kerry exchanged negative ads on Thursday, with Mr Bush criticizing Mr Kerry by name, accusing him of planning to raise taxes and threatening to weaken US security. Mr Kerry fired back at what he called "misleading" accusations.
Mr Kerry, who earlier this week called his Republican critics a "crooked ... lying group," challenged Mr Bush to monthly debates on the "great issues" of the day, including the war on terrorism, the loss of US jobs and the plight of Americans without health care.
"2004 cannot be just another year of politics as usual. The challenges we face are just too grave and too great," Mr Kerry said.