LOS ANGELES - George W. Bush, the Republican presidential candidate, is closing the gap on Vice-President Al Gore and now stands just two percentage points behind, according to the latest poll.
The survey, issued by Reuters and MSNBC television, put Bush on 42 per cent of the vote against Gore's 44 per cent and suggested that the Vice-President had been damaged by widely publicised allegations that he had elaborated or fabricated some of the anecdotes he used in last Wednesday's presidential debate.
Although Gore was deemed to have won that debate, the Republicans have successfully focused attention in the past few days on details such as Gore's purported visit to the scene of devastating wildfires in Texas (in fact, he went to the state on another occasion after a flood) and his mention of a Florida schoolgirl forced to stand in a overcrowded classroom (she stood for just one day while computers were being unpacked).
Over the weekend, Gore sought to make up some of the lost ground by accusing Bush of inexactitudes of his own - his claim, for example, that Gore has outspent him on the campaign, or that Gore's spending plans would increase the Government employee payroll by 20,000 people. Gore claims Bush regularly makes such mistakes.
Bush, meanwhile, became tangled in the details of his tax-cutting plan. Having accused Gore "fuzzy math," he had to admit being trapped in fuzzy math of his own - an episode seized on by the Gore camp as evidence of his shaky grip on campaign issues.
- INDEPENDENT
Dodgy claims cost Gore say pollsters
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