A TOBACCO war has blown up between President Clinton and his Republican opponent, the former senator, Mr Bob Dole, who has lashed out at the media for taking the Democrats line on the smoking issue.
Mr Dole has been under pressure from the Democrats and the anti smoking lobby since his comments three weeks ago that he was "not certain that tobacco his addictive - it is to some people". This was after he was queried about his support for the tobacco industry as a legislator and the substantial funding he had received from it.
Since then, Mr Dole has been followed on his campaign by a giant cigarette called Butt Man and attacked by Democrats.
The former surgeon general, Dr C. Everett Koop, said that Mr Dole's comment "either exposed his abysmal knowledge of nicotine addiction, or his blind support of the tobacco industry".
President Clinton, who does not accept tobacco industry funding for his own campaigns, has been trying to get tobacco regulated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on the basis that nicotine is addictive and should be treated as a drug. The President has mocked Mr Dole's stance and says that he should "fight for our children and not play politics".
Mr Dole and the Republicans oppose having tobacco regulated but he supports restricting cigarette sales to minors and banning TV advertising. Mr Dole also points out that his brother, Kenny, died from emphysema, probably caused by heavy smoking.
Mr Dole has also accused the Democratic Party of "hypocrisy because it accepts contributions' from the tobacco industry. Vice President Al Gore accepted some during his Senate campaigns since 1979. But the Republicans got 85 per cent of the
Mr Dole's frustration at the media concentration on the issue burst out on NBC's Today programme this week when he was being interviewed with his wife about their book, Unlimited Lives. He objected strongly to a suggestion that he was "in the pocket" of the tobacco industry and said the media might be violating federal rules "by always sticking up for the Democrats".
Mr Dole also agreed that the former surgeon general, Mr Koop, might have been "brainwashed" by the media on the issue but later pulled back and said "a little misled". The Dole staff is trying desperately to restrain him from getting deeper into what is clearly a losing issue for him.
While Mr Dole has been pursued by Butt Man, it has now emerged that the person who arranged for former president George Bush to be harassed by a giant chicken, "Chicken George", and "Pinocchio" during his unsuccessful 1992 campaign was none other than Mr Craig Livingstone. He is at the centre of the White House FBI files scandal and had to resign as security director.
Mr Bush became rattled by, Chicken George, who turned up "everywhere to taunt him with being afraid to debate with Mrs Clinton. He even started to answer the chicken back and was ridiculed. Pinocchio was there as reminder that Mr Bush had broken his "read my lips" pledge.