VOTERS BACK BUSH'S NO-COMMENT POLICY ON COCAINE

WASHINGTON -- He's talked about his marriage, he's talked about his
drinking, but there's one topic George W. Bush refuses to talk about:
cocaine.

Almost from the minute he became a GOP presidential candidate, reporters
have pressed the Texas governor to say whether he ever used cocaine. But
voters don't seem to share the media's addiction.

``I really like his position on cocaine,'' said Earl J. Billington, a
retired Iowa voter who cheers Bush's steadfast refusal to say whether he has
ever used illegal drugs. ``The media is just relentless. If it weren't this,
it would be something else. It would be one question after another.''

Bush used the same argument to deflect the question again Wednesday, once in
Texas and later at a campaign stop in Louisiana. No evidence of illegal drug
use by Bush has surfaced, despite persistent digging by reporters and
political rivals.

At a news conference in Austin, Texas, the governor chided reporters for
raising a topic he has repeatedly tried to put off limits.

``Somebody floats a rumor and causes you to ask a question, and that's the
game in American politics. I refuse to play it,'' an obviously irritated
Bush said.

Bush also accused unnamed political opponents of planting drug questions.

``I know they're being planted,'' he said, refusing to elaborate. ``They're
ridiculous and absurd, and the people of America are sick and tired of this
kind of politics.''

Earlier this month, Hearst newspapers quoted Senate Minority Leader Tom
Daschle, D-S.D., as challenging the media to check rumors of cocaine use by
Bush. Daschle, however, quickly denied issuing such a challenge.

Gary Bauer, the Christian conservative who finished fourth in the GOP straw
poll in Iowa on Saturday, also has criticized Bush's stance.

``I think it would be wrong for any possible Republican presidential nominee
to refuse to say clearly and distinctly that they've not used drugs,'' Bauer
has said. Earlier this month, the New York Daily News asked 12 presidential
hopefuls if they had ever used cocaine and all of them said no, except Bush,
who did not reply to the question.

Polls indicate that Bush may be right that the public is tiring of the
allegations.

In a phone survey conducted for Fox News last week, 69 percent of registered
voters polled said they ``would want to know'' whether a presidential
candidate used cocaine in the past. But 72 percent also said youthful
experimentation with drugs, including cocaine, ``should be forgiven.''

Only 37 percent said they would consider refusal to answer evidence of
guilt. About half said they would conclude such refusal meant candidates
were ``just trying to retain their privacy.''

Pollsters say voters may be exhausted from the drawn-out sex scandal
involving President Clinton and former White House intern Monica Lewinsky.

``If we've learned anything in the last year and a half, it's that the
public appetite for hearing about some types of scandal is pretty low,''
said Gregory Fleming, research director at the non-partisan Pew Research
Center. ``There is a sense that maybe the investigation of private lives
should pull back a little bit.''

Mercury News wire services contributed to this report.