October 13, 1984

With both sides publicly claiming victory in the debate between Vice President Bush and Representative Geraldine A. Ferraro, the private assessment in both campaigns today was that the debate would probably cause little shift of support in the Presidential race. Both the Republican and the Democratic camps regarded the outcome as less clear-cut than that of last Sunday's Presidential debate. Several officials on each side suggested that each candidate had achieved a goal in the debate Thursday night and that the mixed results would quickly throw public focus back on the contest between President Reagan and Walter F. Mondale. Mondale Asks an Apology In Minneapolis, Mr. Mondale demanded an apology from Mr. Bush for saying in the debate that the Democrats had suggested that Americans killed in Lebanon ''died in shame.'' (Page 8.)

The 98th Congress faded into history at 3:17 o'clock this afternoon, ending a week of legislative snarls in wearying late- night sessions, as the Senate voted 37 to 30 to approve an increase in the debt limit. ''May I say to my colleagues that there will be no more votes today, there will be no more votes this session, there will be no more votes in my career,'' said the majority leader, Howard H. Baker Jr., Republican of Tennessee, who is retiring. His anouncement was greeted with prolonged applause, a breach of Senate rules. ''For one brief moment I thought that was for me,'' Mr. Baker responded, ''but I realize it's for adjournment.''

A subway car that burst into flame Thursday at the Borough Hall station in Brooklyn had been in and out of the repair shop dozens of times since July, the Transit Authority said yesterday. The car had serious electrical problems and should have been removed from service, the authority said. But instead, in apparent violation of new maintenance rules, it was returned to the tracks over and over again, with minor repairs that failed to solve the problems. The car, No. 9000, went back into service Thursday and completed half of its run before catching fire at 4:55 P.M., apparently when its switch box overheated. Two thousand passengers were removed from the train, and the flames burned out of control until the floor of the car melted.

President Jose Napoleon Duarte of El Salvador said today that his Government had rejected a request by guerrilla leaders that outside observers serve as intermediaries for their scheduled meeting on Monday. But Mr. Duarte said he believed the negotiations would nonetheless go forward. Mr. Duarte said in an interview that he had dismissed the rebel demand for outside intermediaries because he felt the issue of peace was primarily a national question. ''For this I have proposed the meeting in La Palma in Salvadoran territory, with the Salvadorans, to seek a solution to the problems of Salvadorans,'' he said. Would Be First Such Talks It was not clear whether the Government's response to the rebel request would imperil the meeting, which Mr. Duarte proposed. Only two days remain to settle final details of the first face-to-face discussion between Government and rebel cfficials inside El Salvador.

The Irish Republican Army took responsibility today for planting a bomb in a seafront hotel that killed at least two people, wounded at least 34 and came within minutes of killing or maiming Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. Mrs. Thatcher, who escaped without injury, had just left the bathroom of her second-floor suite to return to work on her speech for the concluding session of the annual Conservative Party conference when the explosion ripped through the Grand Hotel early today. Her husband, Denis, later reported that the bathroom was ''mangled.'' Cabinet Member Trapped Norman Tebbit, the Minister of Trade and Industry, plunged two stories when floors collapsed and spent four hours buried beneath rubble before firemen cut him free. He suffered broken ribs and a gashed thigh but no internal injuries. Mr. Tebbit is a senior figure in the Government and a candidate to succeed the Prime Minister.