"Today we import one million barrels of oil from Saddam Hussein," Bush said. "I would rather have it come from our own country...Less dependency is good for consumers."

Gore retorted that finding new sources of oil in places like Alaska would hurt the environment.

"It would only give us a few months of oil," Gore said. "I don't think it's a fair price to pay to destroy precious parts of America's environment."

The recent FDA approval of the RU-486 pill made the thorny issue of abortion a talking point at the debate as well. While Bush, who opposes abortion rights, said he would not try to overturn the approval if he was president, he said he was against a culture that accepts more abortions and restated his opposition to partial-birth abortion.

Gore said that the pill was safe and that women should be allowed to keep the right to choose, which he would uphold with his potential appointments to the Supreme Court.

"I trust women to make the decisions that affect their lives, their destinies and their bodies," Gore said.

The rest of the debate ranged from discussions of approaches to foreign policy to the state of the military to education.

Bush attacked Gore near the end of the debate when questioned about Gore's credibility on campaign finance reform.