GORE VOWS TO 'INTENSIFY BATTLE' AGAINST CRIME, DRUGS, DISORDER

ATLANTA -- Eager to steal a traditional Republican theme, Democratic
presidential contender Al Gore on Tuesday pledged to be the "law
enforcement president" by cracking down on drug use in prisons, hiring
more police, and giving off-duty officers the right to carry concealed
weapons.

"I will intensify the battle against crime, drugs and disorder in our
communities," Gore said at the Virginia Highlands YWCA. He slammed
Republican presidential contender George W. Bush, claiming the Texas
governor had slashed drug-rehabilitation funds for Texas prisoners.

While many of the proposals in the law-and-order speech were not new,
Gore fleshed out his previous plans by including a plan to give states
federal funds to provide mandatory drug testing for prisoners,
parolees and probationers.

The program would require twice-weekly testing for probationers and
parolees, who would face increasing sanctions, including a return to
prison, for failure to remain drug-free.

"I believe we should make prisoners a simple deal," he said. "Before
you get out of jail, you have to get off drugs. You have to be clean
and drug-free. And if you want to stay out, you better stay clean."

Gore aides said that although federal prisons require mandatory drug
testing, not all state and local criminal justice facilities do. They
said the cost of the program would be $500 million in the first year,
which would be in addition to the $1.3 billion criminal-justice
package Gore unveiled last summer.

The Bush campaign fired back that Gore's tough talk on drugs was
undermined by the Clinton-Gore administration's record on the issue.

"We hope Al Gore uses this opportunity to explain why during his term
teen drug use in America nearly doubled, the number of drug-treatment
beds in federal prisons were cut by a third, the office of National
Drug Control Policy was cut by 83 percent and federal gun prosecutions
have decreased by 46 percent," said Bush spokesman Dan Bartlett. "If
Al Gore is willing to attack Texas, where violent crime is at a
20-year low and the largest drug-treatment program in the country is
located, we're also expecting attack on Texans for defending the Alamo."

As part of his overall crime plan, the vice president has proposed
funding for the hiring of 50,000 new police officers, on top of the
100,000 new officers approved by Congress at the request of the
Clinton administration. About 60 percent of those officers are already
on the street.

The vice president, who has hammered Bush for supporting a
concealed-weapons law in Texas, said he would back legislation giving
off-duty and retired state and local police officers the right to
carry such arms.

Such concealed-weapons legislation, his campaign said, would give
local and state police the same rights to carry concealed weapons as
federal law enforcement officials already have.

The crime-and-drug speech was part of a series of addresses in which
Gore has sought to differentiate between himself and Bush on a range
of issues including the economy, education, foreign police, and health
care.

In a USA Today/CNN/Gallup poll published Tuesday, voters ranked crime
among their top issues, behind only education and health care.
Overall, the poll found Bush edging Gore 49 percent to 44 percent, a
slight improvement for the vice president, who trailed by 9 percentage
points three weeks ago.

As in his previous addresses, Gore sought to portray himself as a
centrist Democrat in the mold of President Clinton, who abandoned some
of the more liberal party positions that alienated many voters in the
1970s and 1980s.