OCHESTER, N.H. - The photos of Vice President Al Gore and New Hampshire Governor Jeanne Shaheen canoeing down the sparkling Connecticut River Thursday were scenic and beautiful.
Yesterday, however, Gore aides spent the day trying to drown out questions about who asked the local power company to release 4 billion gallons of dammed water to lift the river level - as well as the canoes. The story was first reported in The Washington Times.
The newspaper quoted an official of Pacific Gas & Electric saying that it had been asked by the Connecticut River Joint Commissions to open the dam after commission and Secret Service officials visited the site last Saturday and worried that the vice president's canoe might run aground. Water levels were unusually shallow due to a long drought.
But Gore aides yesterday said the river agency had called them earlier in the week and asked if they should increase the flow of water.
''We were very emphatic that they should not increase the flow in any way, shape or form for our trip,'' said Chris Lehane, Gore's press secretary.
The Secret Service also denied any responsibility.
''No one from the United States Secret Service contacted anyone or any agency with a request to change the water level,'' said Ronald Peimer, the resident agent in charge of New Hampshire and Vermont.
And William H. Shaheen, Gore's campaign chairman in New Hampshire and the husband of the governor, said neither the campaign nor the governor asked for the extra water.
Meanwhile, environmentalists had been making the request for more water for weeks, pleading that the river's salmon needed it.
Ironically, Gore's advance team had been counting on a sand bar in the middle of the river for photographers to take their picture. On Thursday, the sand bar had disappeared, a victim of the water release.
