Down And Dirty

With less than a month to go in a presidential race that may well be the closest fight for the White House in 40 years, Democrats and Republicans are busy blasting away at George W. Bush and Al Gore.

Gore, say the Republicans, is only telling tall tales when his lips are moving. Bush, the Democrats say, is too busy botching the English language to tell any tales at all.

The Gore campaign, reacting to negative Bush attacks which began after the first presidential debate last week, fired back at Bush on Monday for public-policy “bloopers” - and for his record as Texas governor. Democratic surrogates, rather than Gore himself, are doing most of the heavy lifting.

Meanwhile, the Bush campaign has a strategy of its own. The GOP nominee's lieutenants are stepping up charges that Gore is a "serial exaggerator" who has "consistently and repeatedly made up things."

Providing additional incentive for a Gore counterattack is the fact that the seesawing polls are going Bush's way this week. A Gallup poll shows Bush eight points ahead with a 3.5 percent margin of error, and Gore's lead in a Reuters/MSNBC tracking poll by John Zogby narrowed to a single percentage point.

CBS News Chief White House Correspondent John Roberts reports that the Democrats have launched a series of disparaging ads - tailored to battleground states - that assail Bush's record in Texas on child welfare, the minimum wage and the environment.

"In 1999, Houston overtook Los Angeles as America's smoggiest city. Now take a deep breath and imagine Seattle with Bush's Texas-style environmental regulation," says the announcer in one of the ads.

The ad war is coordinated with two new Web sites - one that mocks Bush's leadership qualities - calling him "Bush Lite" - another with the sinister title "I know what you did in Texas.com."

In addition, the Gore campaign plans to send vice presidential running mate Joe Lieberman to Texas on a “failed-leadership tour” this week to highlight Bush's record on health care, the environment and gun control as governor of Texas the past five years.

Last week, the GOP vice presidential nominee followed Bush's lead, launching an attack on Gore. Dick Cheney blasted the Democratic Party standard-bearer with an edge largely absent during his face-off with Joe Lieberman during last week's civil-minded vice presidential debate.

"He seems to have a compulsion to embellish," said Cheney of Gore.

Gore and Bush took a day off from campaigning Monday to prepare for their Wednesday debate night rematch in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

Bush plans a Tuesday rally in Tennessee and a pre-debate campaign stop in Greensboro, N.C. His spokesman promised "surprising" new endorsements this week.

Gore is holed up in his Florida debate preparation hideaway. Newsweek reports Gore will take advice from a theater director who coaches poiticians and CEOs for television appearances.

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