T. LOUIS - In the closing minutes of his final debate with Al Gore, George W. Bush handed the Democrats a substantive hammer they will try to pound him with for the rest of the campaign.
Asked how he would foot the estimated $1 trillion cost of his plan to let younger workers invest a portion of their Social Security payroll taxes in the stock market, the Texas governor said, ''It comes out of the surplus.''
Bush had seemingly been loathe to explain earlier how he would pay for the proposal, and last night the Democratic National Committee seized upon his admission by launching a new TV ad in 10 states. It notes that Bush has promised senior citizens he will use all of the expected $2.4 trillion surplus in the Social Security program to maintain their benefit checks, yet now has declared he wants to use $1 trillion of that same surplus to also help younger workers establish their investment accounts.
''Which promise is he going to break?'' the ad asks.
Part of the reason Bush has avoided stating how he would pay for his proposal may be that Social Security is so dear to retirees, making proposed changes of any kind a political hazard. Analysts say draining money out of the trust fund surplus would either accelerate its insolvency or necessitate benefit cuts for retirees.
''He's grabbed the third rail. He just didn't realize we've switched on the electricity yet,'' Joseph Andrew, chairman of the DNC, told reporters yesterday as he unveiled the new ad.
Despite the evident glee at Bush's statement, moments earlier in Tuesday's debate at Washington University, the vice president answered a question about taxes that brought into full relief the Republican criticism of both his smaller and targeted tax-cut proposal, and his overall approach to government.
Lisa Key, a 34-year-old single woman with no dependents, asked Gore how his $500 billion tax plan aimed at middle-class families would help someone like her. The vice president spun out a host of ways it might help her, and wound up couching his answer with eight ''if'' clauses to match different financial scenarios.
While Gore was surely hampered by not knowing all the particulars of Key's financial situation, his need to qualify his answer and his reluctance to speak plainly of a ''tax cut'' was viewed in the Bush campaign as confirmation that the vice president provides tax relief only for the ''right people'' - those meeting criteria prescribed in his plan.
Gore answered: ''If you make less than $60,000 a year and you decide to invest $1,000 in a savings account, you'll get a tax credit which means, in essence, that the federal government will match your $1,000 with another $1,000.
''If you make less than $30,000 a year, you put $500 in a savings account, the federal government will match it with $1,500.
''If you make more than $60,000 and up to $100,000, you'll get a match, but not as generous. You'll get access to lifelong learning and education, help with tuition if you want to get a new skill or training.
''If you want to purchase health insurance, you will get help with that. If you want to participate in some of the dynamic changes that are going on in our country, you will get specific help in doing that.
''If you are part of the bottom 20 percent or so of wage earners, then you will get an expanded Earned Income Tax Credit.
''And if you have a, if you have an elderly parent or grandparent who needs longterm care, then you will get help with that,'' the vice president said.
Asked for his response, Bush noted the overarching feature of his $1.3 trillion tax-cut proposal is that it applies across the board.
''Everybody (who) pays taxes is going to get tax relief,'' the governor replied. His answer was so terse and unqualified that he was left with extra time, which he used to launch into an explanation about how he would make a ''peaceful world'' by exercising ''a judicious use of the military.''
Afterward, Bush's chief spokeswoman, Karen Hughes, said the exchange highlighted the principal difference between the two presidential contenders: Gore trusts the government to make decisions, while Bush trusts the people.
''He kept talking about things that would not qualify here to receive a tax cut,'' Hughes said of Gore. ''I think it shows a difference. People don't like a presidential candidate deciding who are the `right people' in America. That is an idea that is not fundamentally consistent with the American ideal of fairness.''
