ASHINGTON - Fighting encroachment on his signature issues, Vice President Al Gore accused Republican George W. Bush yesterday of ''political malpractice'' on health insurance in Texas and prodded newspapers ''to challenge every assumption and question every proposal.''
Gore, a Democrat, also addressed the possibility that as president he might pardon Bill Clinton should the independent counsel's Monica Lewinsky investigation yield criminal charges.
Asked about that at a conference of the American Society of Newspaper Editors, Gore said: ''President Clinton is way ahead of you on this. He said publicly some time ago that he would neither request nor accept a pardon, so that's the answer to that question.''
Bush, the Texas governor, pushed forward yesterday in his efforts on education, the environment, and health care, adding to his day-old health plan a $4.3 billion proposal to expand community and migrant health centers in underserved areas.
''Our society resolved long ago to provide a safety net for those in the most desperate circumstances,'' said Bush, campaigning in St. Louis.
Gore scorned his Republican presidential rival as a johnny-come-lately on health care, citing news reports that Bush's Tuesday announcement - proposing tax credits to help working people buy health insurance - was his first-ever speech on the issue.
''The hundreds of thousands of uninsured children and families in his own state of Texas who have no health insurance ... do not have it because of the political malpractice of the Bush administration,'' Gore said.
Bush's back-to-back health proposals followed his recent environmental and education initiatives - all areas in which Gore had believed he could dominate the debate. While public opinion polls show voters tend to trust Democrats on these issues more than Republicans, the Gore camp is nervous that Bush could gain ground with his latest policy drive.
''He wants us to believe he's committed to issues like education, health care, and the environment,'' Gore told the editors. ''We need the nation's reporters and editors to challenge every assumption and question every proposal.''
Bush spokesman Ari Fleischer defended the governor's record, saying he had presided over improvements in Texas health care and signed a patients' bill of rights. A significant piece of that legislation, giving patients the right the sue insurance companies, became law without his signature.
''The worse Al Gore is doing in the polls, the more he attacks and misrepresents the governor's record,'' said Fleischer. ''Pretty soon, Al Gore will say he invented health care.''
On another matter, Gore was asked by a Rocky Mountain News editor about families harmed by the Columbine school shootings who say last April's tragedy should qualify them for disaster compensation from the Colorado and federal governments.
''If this is still a pending issue on January the 20th of next year, I would certainly look with great sympathy in a positive way toward whatever these families are asking,'' Gore said.
Later yesterday, Gore met with two dozen prominent Democratic fund-raisers working on the May 24 Washington gala starring Clinton and Gore. Organizer Terry McAuliffe put the fund-raising goal for that bluejeans-and-barbecue evening at $7 million.
Gore also held forth at a small, $500,000 luncheon for the Democratic National Committee at the Washington home of former New York representative Tom Downey, now a government consultant whose clients include Microsoft.
The vice president held to his pledge to keep unregulated ''soft money'' issue ads off the air, but only until the Republicans dip into their soft money funds for such ads.
''We will fight fire with fire,'' Gore told contributors who paid $25,000 apiece for the lunch. ''I appreciate you all being a part of this event to make sure that we have the ability to win that battle if and when it comes in that way.''
Dinner was with Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura at the vice presidential residence.
Aides to Gore and Ventura described it as a chance to get better acquainted and talk issues - not negotiate an endorsement by Ventura, the nation's best-known independent officeholder.
