EWPORT BEACH, Calif. - As Al Gore wrapped up a star-studded week of campaigning with a gala fund-raiser in New York, George W. Bush returned to a favorite theme by seizing on a fresh allegation of fund-raising improprieties by the vice president.
Bush, lagging or running even in most national polls, heavily promoted news reports yesterday that Gore once may have influenced a presidential veto to curry favor with a large donor.
Speaking to a group of National Guard members, the Texas governor said Gore appeared to have ''crossed a serious line'' in his dealings with a Texas trial lawyer in 1995. According to various reports, aides instructed Gore to call the lawyer to solicit a $100,000 contribution around the same time Clinton vetoed a bill that would have limited awards in product-liability lawsuits.
Aides said Gore never made the call. But Bush, relying on newspaper reports, said it ''sounded like, on the surface, there's a quid pro quo.''
''Just today, there are new revelations about potential misuse of the White House for fund-raising purposes, more evidence that my opponent may have crossed a serious line - solicitation of campaign contributions linked to a presidential veto,'' Bush said. ''The appearance is really disturbing. Americans are tired of investigations and scandals, and the best way to get rid of them is to elect a new president who will restore honor and dignity to the White House.''
Bush has long relied on the fund-raising scandals of the last presidential election as a tool to disparage his opponent, and is running ads that show Gore at a Buddhist temple where funds were raised illegally. Gore later returned the money, but Bush frequently uses it as evidence that Gore is untrustworthy.
Gore denied any wrongdoing. The Justice Department is reportedly reviewing a memorandum showing what Gore was supposed to say in the telephone call to Walter Umphrey, a Texas donor, who, as a trial lawyer, favored the Clinton veto of the litigation bill.
Instead of Gore, the phone call was placed by Don Fowler, then chairman of the Democratic National Committee, according to reports. The Gore campaign yesterday tried to play down the entire episode, mocking Bush for making an issue of it, and alluding to the brief flash of the word ''rats'' in a Bush campaign ad.
''It seems like the governor - who is surrounded by rats and mired in mispronunciations - is using desperate language because he's a desperate candidate wallowing in desperate polls,'' Gore spokesman Chris Lehane said. ''He has no positive message, so therefore he's resorting to play one in the Republican play book. He's focused on the past.''
Gore, in a week that included appearances with Oprah Winfrey, Cher, and James Taylor, last night attended a Radio City Music Hall bash thrown by executive Harvey Weinstein and Rolling Stone publisher Jann Wenner.
The event, which was expected to raise $6.5 million, boasted a concentration of celebrities unmatched anywhere outside a Hollywood awards ceremony. Performers included singers Sheryl Crow, Lenny Kravitz, Jon Bon Jovi, Bette Midler, Paul Simon, and members of the Eagles. Actors Julia Roberts, Michael Douglas, Harrison Ford, and Salma Hayek, were on the roster.
GOP officials pilloried Gore and his running mate, Senator Joseph I. Lieberman, for taking money from the entertainment industry while criticizing it for marketing violent shows to youth.
RNC cochairs Jim Nicholson and Patricia S. Harrison, held a sidewalk-blocking press conference outside Radio City Music Hall yesterday afternoon to air their accusations.
''I'll tell you something,'' Harrison added. ''If there was an Academy Award for brazen hypocrisy, I hope they give it to him tonight on that stage.''
Lehane scoffed at such accusations.
''This campaign is not about our supporters,'' he said. ''It's not about our opponents. It's about what's right for America's children.''
Gore arrived at the fund-raiser after taping an appearance of ''The Late Show With David Letterman.'' On the program, Gore defended his much-discussed, lingering, convention kiss with his wife Tipper as completely spontaneous and ''just a peck.''
Kornblut reported from California, Abraham from New York.
