MOCKERY OF BUSH AN ATTEMPT TO BE FUNNY, FORBES SAYS

WASHINGTON -- Steve Forbes, who last week mocked Gov. George W. Bush's
answers to questions on past drug use, backed down somewhat today,
calling his own remarks an unsuccessful attempt at humor.

Forbes, a magazine publisher, who trails both Bush and Senator John
McCain in the campaign for the Republican presidential nomination,
said on Friday in answer to a question about raising the Social
Security retirement age:

"When I was young and irresponsible, I was young and irresponsible
and, unlike some, I grew away from that initial position and clearly
some others are still stuck in it. At least you knew what I was doing
in my youth. I was writing magazine columns.

"Others haven't been so forthcoming about what they were
doing."

On the ABC News program "This Week," Forbes was asked today if he was
talking about allegations that Bush, now the governor of Texas, might
have used cocaine in his youth.

"No, not at all," Forbes said. "It was a throw-away line. I was trying
to be humorous. And as I said afterwards, obviously I'm not going to
get a job writing one-liners for Jay Leno or David Letterman."

After Forbes's remarks last week, Governor Bush declined to go beyond
what he had said in the past, that when his father was president he
could have passed a White House test for drugs going back 15 years.

"I've answered that question," Bush said. "I've talked about it all
I'm going to talk about."

When asked today whether that answer was adequate, Forbes said: "How
George Bush wishes to answer questions or any candidate wishes to
answer questions is up to them, and in terms of the campaign itself, I
do want a campaign of issues and ideas and I think I've got some very
exciting ideas out there and I hope that we have a chance in these
future forums and debates."

On another television program, NBC News's "Meet the Press," Senator
McCain said he regretted his early opposition to a holiday honoring
the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in his home state, Arizona.

"I voted in 1983 against the recognition of Martin Luther King,"
McCain said. "It became a huge issue in my state."

In answer to another question, he said, "I regret that
vote."

Dan Schnur, the spokesman for Senator McCain's presidential campaign,
said McCain's reversal and expression of regret were well known in
Arizona.

"It is something he has been talking about for quite some time,"
Schnur said. "He was public about it in leading the fight to reverse
the original decision."

The matter took on some timeliness last week with the designation of a
parcel on the Mall for a memorial to Dr. King.

Senator McCain was quoted by The Associated Press in September as
having said, "I was one of the leaders for the recognition of Dr.
King, but I resented it enormously when Americans from other states
and other parts of the country parachuted into my state and tried to
tell us what to do."

On the NBC News program, McCain repeated his earlier assertion that he
would not accept the nomination for vice president if it were offered
to him by Governor Bush.

Three times, he answered "Under no circumstances" when asked if he
would accept nomination as vice president.

Such an unequivocal position is standard for anyone seeking the
presidential nomination.

When Elizabeth Dole dropped out of the race in October, some political
leaders said that one of the reasons many did not did take her
seriously was that they assumed her underlying goal was the vice
presidency and did not contribute money to her campaign.

Peter B. Teeley, the press secretary for George Bush in 1980, recalled
today that he had said many times then that he would not accept the
vice-presidential nomination.

"Your entire organization would collapse" if a candidate conceded
interest in the No. 2 spot, Teeley said.

As things turned out, Bush, the father of Governor Bush, dropped out
of the race and indeed accepted the vice-presidential nomination when
it was offered to him by the winning candidate, Ronald Reagan.