COKEGATE LOOMS

George W Bush is not yet president of the US, so it is probably
premature to start assessing his achievements. Even so, he could soon
notch up an important accomplishment, one which might change the way
politics is done in America for years to come. For the governor of
Texas seems set to break the long-standing taboo on drugs.

Using various tortured forms of words, Bush has admitted to using
illegal substances 25 years ago - with the clear implication that his
experiences include cocaine.

Now his Republican rivals for the party's presidential nomination want
him to answer the question: what drugs did he use and when did he use
them? Opponents are comparing him to the slippery one-time candidate,
and fellow southern governor, Bill Clinton, who famously admitted to
smoking - but not inhaling - cannabis.

Republicans joke that George W will eventually 'fess up to "sniffing
but not snorting" coke.

The experts predict this will hurt the would-be president in the
primary contests, where the selectorate is confined to his own party.

Republicans tend to be conservative on social questions like drugs,
and several of Bush's rivals are running "values" campaigns.

They say a Bush candidacy in 2000 would expose the party to charges of
hypocrisy, not least because the governor's own state of Texas pursues
the most hardline anti-drugs policy in America. They add that past use
of cocaine is a felony and, after hounding Clinton for what
Republicans insisted was a crime during the Zippergate affair, the
party cannot pick a lawbreaker as its own candidate for America's top
job.

But George W Bush may find a much more sympathetic hearing from the
nation at large.

A weekend opinion poll found that 72% of Americans believed
experimental drug use while young should be forgiven.

When the current vice-president and Bush's likeliest opponent, Al
Gore, admitted to past use of cannabis back in 1988, no one held it
against him.

Now that so many of the world's political stars are below the age of
50, voters seem to accept as inevitable that most of them will have
dabbled with drugs.

If Bush prevails, then he may well enshrine the new tolerance forever.
Just as Clinton set a precedent - proving that draft-dodging
adulterers could be elected president - so Bush the Younger may prove
that past use of hard drugs is now accepted as a fact of life.