04/04/2000

From wire reports 

Gov Smirk may not have read Al Gore's book on the environment, but he wants the vice president to explain it. 

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Making his pitch to be the environmental candidate, Mr. Bush on Monday challenged 
Mr. Gore, the author of Earth in the Balance, to clarify parts of his 1992 best seller. 
Mr. Gore's book includes criticism of the internal combustion engine. 

Asked whether he thought Mr. Gore was an extremist on the environment, Mr. Bush said, "I think the vice president is probably going to have to explain what he meant by some of the things in his book. . . . " 

Later, Mr. Bush acknowledged that he had not read Earth in the Balance.

"The words are too big," Bush told staffers.