DEMOCRATIC LEADER WANTS BUSH TO ANSWER DRUG USE QUESTIONS

Texas governor says he refuses to play 'gotcha politics'

WASHINGTON - A top Democratic leader said Wednesday that Gov. George W. Bush
should answer questions about whether he has ever used cocaine.

"Sure it's a legitimate question," Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle said
in response to a reporter's question at a breakfast meeting.

Mr. Daschle acknowledged, however, that Mr. Bush has a right to continue
refusing to answer such questions and he said it won't necessarily hurt Mr.
Bush with voters.

Mr. Bush, the Republican presidential front-runner, has declined on a number
of occasions to answer questions about whether he has ever used drugs,
saying, "When I was young and irresponsible, I behaved that way" but that
"I'm not going to inventory what I did."

Bush spokeswoman Mindy Tucker, told of Mr. Daschle's comments, said, "The
governor is not going to engage in the politics of personal destruction
where he's constantly responding to rumor and innuendo and trying to
disprove a negative."

Campaigning Wednesday night in Clear Lake, Iowa, Mr. Bush fired back at Mr.
Daschle.

"Mr. Daschle can have his opinion, and I've got mine," Mr. Bush told
reporters after a campaign rally.

"I'm not going to play the game of gotcha politics. I'm not going to chase
every single rumor and unsubstantiated allegations."

The governor told reporters that he has answered plenty of their questions
already. "What people need to know about me," he said, "is that when I swear
in, I will swear in to uphold the integrity of the office so help me God."

The issue arose Wednesday during a discussion between Mr. Daschle and
reporters about Hillary Rodham Clinton's controversial interview in Talk
magazine in which she commented on President Clinton's infidelities.

"It's always difficult for somebody in public life to try to draw the line
between what is personal and what is public," Mr. Daschle said.

"I think that George W. Bush is trying to do that right now," he added. "He
may or may not be successful at it."

Mr. Daschle said that "the media seems to be respecting far more his privacy
and his lack of willingness to discuss his past than they might have been
with others."

The senator said the media seems to be ready to move on from the issue. He
said that's "not necessarily" a mistake, noting that "in many cases, the
media has been too invasive."

Mr. Daschle also said that, in assessing a candidate's refusal to answer a
question, "you have to make a judgment as to how important that question is
in the overall scheme of whether this person is competent to hold office or
not."

"And I frankly don't think it's a competency question," the South Dakota
Democrat added, volunteering that he has never used cocaine and that "I'm
not even sure I've ever seen it."

Staff writer G. Robert Hillman in Clear Lake, Iowa, contributed to this
report.