ASHINGTON - The presidential campaign of George W. Bush, frustrated by continued rumors about drug use, took the unusual step yesterday of providing evidence to contradict an accusation made in a book that goes on sale today.
The book, ''Fortunate Son,'' alleges that Bush was arrested for cocaine use in 1972 in Houston and that a judge expunged the record as a favor to political allies of Bush's father, President Bush. The allegation by the author, J.H. Hatfield, is based on anonymous sources, with no information about arresting officer, judge, or any other corroboration.
Bush, asked about the allegation at an Arizona news conference on Monday, said it was ''totally ridiculous,'' and his spokesman said the Texas governor has never been arrested for any drug charge at any location. Many major news organizations chose not to write about the allegation because it is unsubstantiated.
But as the story spread through a number of Internet sites yesterday and became the focus of numerous news media inquiries, the campaign released statements by the former president and the former district attorney in Houston that strongly contradicted the report. Bush's father said the allegation is a ''vicious lie. This simply did not happen.''
''He [Hatfield] has insulted our son's character, and my character, and I resent it,'' Bush said. ''I am proud that George is willing and strong enough to take the heat even in the face of this kind of mindless garbage.''
Carol S. Vance, a Democrat who in 1972 was the district attorney for Harris County, which includes Houston, also strongly denied the allegation. He said that contrary to the book's assertion, there were no Republican judges handling criminal cases in Harris County in 1972. And, he said, the Texas Legislature did not pass a law allowing for the expunging of criminal records until 1977. Vance said that if anyone had been charged with a felony in Harris County, ''there would be several agencies that would have a record of such matter.''
If Bush had been arrested for cocaine use, Vance said, ''I would have known about any such charge had such a thing occurred and so would most everyone in the courthouse, including most if not all of the some 100 assistant district attorneys.''
The book, published by St. Martin's Press, is a biography of Bush timed to coincide with the campaign. The cocaine allegation is made in an afterword. Hatfield describes how he was told about the matter by anonymous sources. A St. Martin's spokesman could not be reached for comment. Hatfield, a Texas journalist, previously has written books about Patrick Stewart, star of the ''Star Trek: The Next Generation '' series, which prompted Bush on Monday to urge journalists to ''not respond to this science fiction.''
Bush, who has said he was once ''young and irresponsible,'' has declined to say if he ever used illegal drugs. He has said, however, that he could have passed the FBI background checks his father imposed on employees during his administration. Those checks required employees to be drug-free since 1974.
