Debate tape stolen, aides say

By Anne E. Kornblut, Globe Staff, 9/15/2000

OMONA, Calif. - A videotape of George W. Bush participating in a mock debate must have been stolen from his campaign by an intruder, then mailed to the Gore campaign, Bush aides intimated yesterday, all but ruling out the possibility that the leak of the debate materials was an inside job.

A lawyer for the Bush campaign reviewed the videotape for the first time yesterday and confirmed it was authentic. The tape shows Bush debating Senator Judd Gregg, the New Hampshire Republican who has been playing the role of Vice President Al Gore in practice sessions. It was received in the mail by former US representative Tom Downey of New York and turned over to the FBI on Wednesday, touching off conspiracy theories about who was responsible for the security breach.

Karen Hughes, the communications director for Bush, yesterday dismissed concerns that the leaked tape and the copies of the briefing book that accompanied it might give Gore an unfair edge, and said the Gore campaign had handled the incident in ''an appropriate fashion.''

Downey, who has been playing the role of Bush in practice debates with Gore, said that after opening the anonymous package, he viewed only 60 to 90 seconds of the tape before he realized it was in the wrong hands and shut it off.

Bush has been practicing for a showdown with Gore since May, and has twice flown Gregg to his ranch in Crawford, Texas, for mock debates. The tape in question shows one of those sessions. At the same time, the papers mailed with the tape appeared to be photocopies of ''legitimate debate preparation'' materials, Hughes said.

''This is now being investigated and it's clear that whoever obtained it did so in an unethical way,'' she said.

The debate tape whodunnit, unfolding as negotiations over the presidential debate schedule came to a head in Washington, led to a flurry of speculation in both campaigns, with some Democrats even venturing that the material, which was postmarked in Austin, Texas, was sent by a Bush campaign insider. By yesterday, the mystery was in the hands of FBI investigators, who asked to interview members of both campaigns. The Austin police are not involved, despite statements yesterday by Bush officals suggesting the tape was illegally obtained from the campaign office there.

''Only the very most senior members of our team are people who would have had legitimate access to one of our debate tapes,'' Hughes said.

Others with access to the tapes are campaign manager Joe Allbaugh, senior political stratagist Karl Rove, and chief media adviser Mark McKinnon. It was unclear whether the tapes were locked up, but aides said the media firm that made them, Maverick Media, kept a log of who had access to the tapes.

To avoid an appearance of unfairness, Downey has ended his debate work with Gore.