USTIN, Texas - Vice President Al Gore declared yesterday that he doesn't know how his campaign ended up with a bootleg videotape of George W. Bush rehearsing for next month's debates.
But, he told reporters, ''If somebody in the Bush campaign keeps sending confidential internal data to us, we'll keep turning it over to the FBI.''
That comment, in a conference call with reporters, came as the two camps traded new accusations over the mysterious package - and whether there is a Gore spy in Bush's campaign.
Bush operatives seized upon the Gore campaign's suspension of a junior staff member in the matter to hurl new accusations at Gore's Nashville-based operation.
''The more the FBI inquires, the more nervous they're getting in Nashville,'' said Bush spokesman Ari Fleischer.
The Gore staff member, Michael Doyne, 28, was suspended after he acknowledged boasting of a ''mole'' planted in Bush's campaign.
Doyne now insists the ''mole'' was a product of his imagination, and Gore spokesman Mark Fabiani said campaign officials do not believe there is any such Democratic spy.
But Fleischer said Doyne's suspension ''raises questions on whether others in the Gore campaign have information'' obtained through political espionage.
''It defies credibility,'' Fleischer said of the whole incident.
GOP running mate Dick Cheney said there is cause for concern. ''There seems to be a little bit of smoke there. Whether or not there's a fire, I don't know,'' he said on ABC's ''This Week.''
On Sept. 13, a package including the tape arrived at the Washington office of former representative Thomas Downey of New York, who had been helping Gore prepare for the debates. It had an Austin postmark.
Gore told reporters that Doyne ''has signed a sworn affidavit that he has no knowledge whatsoever of any so-called mole or Gore sympathizer within the George Bush presidential campaign. That's all I know about it.''
As to the tape, ''I don't know who sent it,'' Gore said. ''I've read the reports that the FBI has identified a Bush campaign official as the person responsible, but I have no knowledge other than that.''
Bush campaign officials have denied strongly that anyone involved in debate preparations sent the tape to Gore's campaign.
However, they have not ruled out the possibility that a junior staff member may have stumbled upon a copy of the tape and passed it on, or that a security lapse may have allowed the tape to be copied outside campaign headquarters.
FBI agents were in Austin on Friday interviewing staff with direct access to debate preparation material.
Both candidates stayed close to home yesterday - Gore in Washington, Bush in Austin - while the race was conducted by conference calls laying out the coming week.
Handling his own phone work, Gore promised a ''detailed book'' - 74 pages, an aide said - on how he would modernize and expand Medicare.
''Medicare faces insolvency unless we act now. I want to make a rock-solid commitment to Medicare,'' Gore said. ''The other side treats the surplus as a piggybank for a tax cut.''
Bush, just back from a two-day trip to Florida, was leaving today on a three-day trip to Oregon, Washington state, and California during which he will promote his education plans.
Timed to coincide with the trip is a new Republican National Committee ad suggesting the nation is in the grips of an ''education recession.''
Citing low test scores, particularly in math and science, the ad implies that part of the blame rests with the Clinton-Gore administration. It also praises Bush's record as governor of Texas.
The ad will begin airing later in the week in 17 states, Fleischer said.
''Reading and math scores nationally have been declining for the past 10 years,'' Fleischer said. ''There's a real worry in America about whether children will be safe in school.''
Bush's trip will include an appearance tomorrow on CNN's ''Larry King Live.''
Bush has proposed a $47 billion, 10-year education plan that would boost spending for literacy programs, college scholarships, and programs that improve pupil achievement. He also wants vouchers that poor families could use for private-school tuition.
Bush's camp also welcomed new weekend polls suggesting he had reclaimed some of his losses to Gore. It also confirmed reports of sharply reduced advertising in Illinois, a key battleground state, but denied that was because the campaign felt Gore's lead there had become unassailable.
Fleischer said the cutback was largely a response to a decision by Democrats to scale back their own advertising there. ''We keep an eye on each other's advertising and that's what you're seeing. ... Illinois is definitely a battleground state. We're going to contest it,'' he said.
Gore spokesman Fabiani painted a different picture of the ad cutback, telling CNN the decision to pull out of Illinois is ''a major, major statement about where this election is going.''
