TV showdown for old foes as Clinton fulfils his destiny

Bill Clinton has got a prime-time TV slot in a career move that has seemed inevitable since the most smooth-talking US President in recent history left office two years ago.

However, the survivor of Whitewater and Monica Lewinsky will not host a let-it-all-hang-out talkshow. Instead, he will appear on CBS's 60 Minutes, the most venerable news magazine programme on American television, opposite his old political foe Bob Dole.

The pair slugged it out in the 1996 elections. But the tart-tongued Republican and the affable Democrat now get on well, and have already appeared together in promotions of federal youth schemes. They also have wives who are senators: Elizabeth Dole and Hillary Clinton could square up against each other in the 2008 White House race.

The two men are to feature in "Point-Counterpoint", a segment that 60 Minutes last ran regularly in the 1970s. They have been booked for 10 shows, at a reputed $100,000 (£63,000) a time – with the first airing on Sunday. The name will alternate between "Clinton/Dole" and "Dole/Clinton". As Don Hewitt, producer of 60 Minutes, put it: "When you've got a name like that, you don't waste it."

The two will set out competing arguments on the issues of the day. Mr Clinton promises it will not be "a mud fight''. "My top goal is not to make converts to my point of view, but to make sure people understand the choices clearly," he said. "I'll try not to cost Hillary too many votes." Mr Dole said: "We both cleared it with our wives, so we won't get in trouble."

Each man will record his part separately, to be spliced together. Each will have 45 seconds to put his view across, plus a 15-second rebuttal. It may not seem much, but given that the average soundbite on TV is eight seconds, "Point-Counterpoint" is a small eternity.