NEW evidence of political skulduggery rattled the US presidential election last night after a videotape apparently showing George W. Bush preparing for the election debates mysteriously fell into the hands of his opponents.
On the same day, in an unrelated incident, it was discovered that burglars had broken into the Manhattan offices of the Democratic National Committee, making off with three laptop computers in a crime that recalled the Watergate break in that brought down President Nixon.
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A senior aide to Al Gore, who is coaching the VicePresident on his debating technique, said yesterday that he had received an anonymous package containing the videotape and documents relating to Mr Bush’s debate-training, in what appeared to be a deliberate attempt at sabotage. The aide, the former Democratic congressman Tom Downey, viewed the videotape briefly and after determining that it related to the Republican governor’s debate preparations he contacted his lawyer. The tape was then handed to the FBI, which is investigating the incident.
The package was postmarked Austin, Texas, three days ago, raising suspicions that it may have been sent by a spy within the Bush camp. Mr Downey had been helping Mr Gore to prepare for the debates and would have played the role of Mr Bush in planned training sessions. He said he would no longer take part in the Democratic candidate’s debate preparations to avoid any appearance of impropriety.
Officials from both campaigns are to meet the Commission on Presidential Debates today to negotiate the shape of the presidential debates. Mr Bush is widely perceived as the weaker debater and information on how he is preparing for the confrontation could have given his rival a huge advantage.
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The incident is not without precedent: in 1980 Ronald Reagan was also sent advance information on the debate-training of Jimmy Carter, who was then President.
Marc Miller, Mr Downey’s lawyer, said the former congressman had viewed the tape for “less than a minute” and “may have flipped through” the half-inch-thick stack of documents. A day after accusations that the word ‘RATS’ was inserted as a subliminal message into an attack advertisement aimed at Mr Gore, the Bush camp is now facing the grim possibility that there may be a traitor in its midst with access to secret material.
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“We don’t know what the Gore campiagn claims to have in their possession,” Ari Fleischer, Mr Bush’s spokesman, said. He added that Mr Bush’s lawyers had asked Mr Gore’s aides to provide copies of the material in order to establish whether it is genuine.
In the New York break-in, police said that three laptop computers and a Palm Pilot electronic device were stolen from the Democratic offices in the Madison Square Garden complex. The office’s front door had been forced open. It was not known what information the computers contained.