Or he could say, "Are you kidding? The average time between a death sentence and execution is 10 1/2 years. By the time the mother ran out of appeals, the baby would be in the eighth grade. That's a trick question."

On "Meet the Press" last Sunday, Gore eschewed both common humanity and common sense. Asked about it by host Tim Russert, he hedged.

"Well, I don't know what the circumstances would be in that situation. I would, you know, it's an interesting fact situation. I'd want to think about it," he said.

What's to think about in a double execution, a mother and her blameless baby? If she's been on death row for any time, where contact visits are forbidden, how could the father be anybody but a prison guard, and that raises a whole bunch of other issues.

The future of the baby, should mom fail in her appeals, is assured. Childless couples would be lined up outside the prison to take it home. Record numbers of baby-starved couples are traveling to Russia, China and South Korea in search of children. All they ask is that they be available.

Gore is often accused of pandering, but in this case, it's hard to see what the audience is. Who would be pleased at his temporizing? The most militant feminists are not clamoring for equal-gender opportunity in the death chamber.

Or maybe you have to ask who would have been offended. Even Pat Robertson has endorsed the idea of a moratorium on capital punishment such as that imposed by Illinois's conservative governor to try to avoid any more mistakes.

Gore was detached about the chance of taking an innocent life. "You have to acknowledge since we're all human and humans are imperfect, even a jury system . . . may sometimes produce a mistake. It has been my impression that such mistakes are exceedingly rare."

That's pretty much what his opponent George W. Bush--who was interviewed immediately after on "Sunday Morning" by Cokie Roberts and Sam Donaldson--thinks, although he's sure Texas has never been wrong. Maybe on the mother-child twofer, Gore figured that W. would not waver in his enthusiasm for the death penalty, which has been carried out 137 times on his watch. Gore may not have wished to be any less grim a reaper than the compassionate conservative who is jostling him in the polls.

Gore's gaffe brought back to Democrats the melancholy memory of a night in 1988, when another Democratic candidate fatally tripped over a hypothetical death penalty question. When he was asked if he would change his anti-execution stand for the man who raped and murdered his wife, Kitty, Michael Dukakis gulped, floundered and sank.

The day after the program, Gore issued a "clarification" about his bizarre diffidence. He said, unenlighteningly, that "the principle of a woman's right to choose governs in that case."

In contrast to Gore, who had the look of someone in the midst of a root canal, Bush seemed to enjoy his session. The questioning was less eviscerating, and when he didn't want to answer one, he slipped in swaggers about his certain victory.

Poor Gore never got a break. After the miserable business of the death penalty and the Supreme Court ruling on the Boy Scout ban on gays, and parental consent for abortions, he was hustled into the Buddhist temple. Russert unfurled a list of government officials and agencies that certified his 1996 visit as a fundraiser. Gore was reduced to accusing Russert of "beating a dead horse."

What do these two Sabbath shows tell us about the debates to come? His partisans contend that Gore, who is a legendary debater, a master of detail and savagely combative, will devour the Texas governor. Bush looks easy. He is not a know-it-all. He is a know-enough. He thinks he knows enough to be president and has not the slightest curiosity about what he doesn't know.

Gore seems spooked by Bush, who is extremely nonchalant about offending certain constituencies, which is inevitable in this process. Gore is so terrified of offending so many people he is walking on eggs from coast to coast. Bush doesn't think there's a state or an audience that won't like him if he gives them the chance. He waltzed into a NAACP convention and into Little Rock in high good humor.

Bush could be a tougher customer for Gore in debate than anyone imagined. If Gore goes for his throat, as is his wont, he could end up hurting himself.

© 2000 The Washington Post Company