BUSH PLEDGES FUNDING TO FIGHT TEEN DRUG USE

Gore Talks Tax Cuts At Rally In Florida

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa -- Republican presidential nominee George W. Bush
accused the Clinton-Gore administration Friday of firing blanks in the war
against drugs and proposed to increase spending by $2.8 billion over five
years to curb illegal drug use, particularly among teens.

"Unfortunately, in the last 7 1/2 years, fighting drug abuse has ceased to
be a national priority," Bush said. "Drug policy has been pursued without
urgency, without energy and without meaningful success."

Meanwhile, Democratic presidential nominee Al Gore teamed up with his
running mate, Sen. Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut, at an outdoor rally of
several thousand people in Orlando, Fla. Gore focused on tax cuts again,
saying his own are targeted to help the middle class, while Bush would give
most of his proposed $1.3 trillion tax reduction to people who earn more
than $1 million a year.

"Those facts aren't fuzzy," Gore said. "Those facts are real. They may be
inconvenient, but they're not fuzzy." In their debate Tuesday, Bush had
accused Gore of using "fuzzy math."

In a 20-minute speech to about 150 people at a family-resources center in
Cedar Rapids, Bush proposed spending $25 million over five years to help
non-profit agencies assist parents in battling drug use by teenagers. In
the same period, he would increase spending by $100 million on making
schools drug-free zones, double funding for community and religious
anti-drug programs to $350 million and provide $250 million for
drug-treatment programs for teens.

Bush also proposed spending an additional $1 billion over five years to
treat people who are addicted to drugs and aren't receiving treatment, a
category estimated at up to 3 million people. Most of the remaining money
would go toward preventing drugs from entering the United States.

"One of Mr. Clinton's first acts as president was to slash the staff of the
drug office by 80 percent," Bush said. "The number of workers there went
from 146 to 25 -- in other words, about half the size of the White House
public-relations operation. That says something about priorities."

A representative of Gen. Barry McCaffrey, head of the White House
drug-policy office, said the Texas governor was using "ancient numbers."
Bob Weiner said the office initially lost staff when Clinton slashed
overall White House employment, but that it now had 154 employees -- more
than when President George Bush, the Republican candidate's father, left
office in 1992.

Weiner also said the Clinton administration had budgeted about $7 billion
more to fight drugs -- the amount for fiscal 2001 is nearly $20 billion --
than did his immediate predecessor, President Bush. Weiner also cited a
recent study showing that drug use among 12- to 17-year-olds declined 21
percent the past two years.

GOP nominee Bush acknowledged that teen drug use had "leveled off" the past
two years. But he gave the Clinton administration no credit.

Doug Hattaway, a Gore representative, said the administration had proposed
the largest anti-drug budget to date, and noted that Gore already had
proposed spending an additional $5.3 billion to crack down on drugs.

"Once again, Governor Bush has misfired in attacking the progress of the
past eight years," Hattaway said.

Gore representative Chris Lehane said the vice president last year proposed
a crackdown on methamphetamine production. He has called for better
treatment options, strengthening the Safe and Drug-Free Schools Program,
expanding drug courts and doubling the number of areas designated as high
drug-trafficking zones to better coordinate law enforcement and toughening
penalties for those who sell drugs to children.

In Florida, Gore fired up a rally Friday at Orlando's band shell beside
Lake Eola. Amid swaying palm trees and near-100-degree heat, he called the
state, with its 25 electoral votes, "the key to the election, and central
Florida the key to this state."

He also declared Lieberman the winner in Thursday night's vice presidential
debate with Republican candidate Dick Cheney.

"That was as clear a win if I ever saw one," Gore said.

Lieberman, basking in the crowd's cheers, said jokingly, "You're making me
feel like `Rocky.' "

His GOP counterpart said bluntly that Gore stretches the truth, in remarks
to reporters Friday while traveling to Shreveport, La.

"He seems to have a compulsion to embellish his answers, or as I mentioned
the other day, his resume, and this is a man who has got significant
accomplishments," Cheney told reporters aboard his campaign plane. "He has
held national office for 24 years, yet he seems to have this uncontrollable
desire to periodically add things to his reputation that are not true."