Bush, Gore in dead heat in polls

Republican presidential nominee George W. Bush and his Democratic rival, Al Gore, remain deadlocked in the race for the Oval Office.

New polls show both in statistical dead heats with one poll tied.

Portrait of America's Presidential Tracking Poll has both men even with 42.1 percent of the popular vote, analysts said today, demonstrating that neither has conceded defeat in what political observers say will be a close race all the way to Nov. 7.

In third-party races being tracked by POA analysts, Green Party nominee Ralph Nader leads with 3.1 percent; Reform's Patrick J. Buchanan has 1.2 percent; Libertarian Harry Browne has 0.7 percent; the Constitution Party's Howard Phillips has 0.1 percent; independent John Hagelin does not register among voters; and 10.7 percent of respondents said they weren't sure.

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"The race has remained fairly constant over the last couple of weeks and major changes are not likely prior to the debates," analysts said.

The POA presidential poll was conducted Sept. 23, 24 and 25 in a telephone survey of 2,250 likely voters. The margin of sampling error is +/- 2 percentage points, with a 95 percent level of confidence. Rasmussen Research conducted the poll.

In the

Voter.com Battleground Poll, Bush has a slight lead over Gore, 44 percent to 41 percent.

The survey of 1,000 likely voters, released today, is the most recent in a series of daily tracking polls conducted by Democrat Celinda Lake and Republican Ed Goeas. The poll's margin of error is 3.1 percent, making the contest statistically even.

Meanwhile, on the campaign trail, Gore made an attempt today to tie Bush to an alleged 1995 "assault on Medicare" by former Republican House Speaker Newt Gingrich of Georgia, claiming that "Bush's support of Gingrich's drive to scale back the federally backed insurance program for the elderly and disabled raises questions about the Texas governor's vow to preserve Medicare with new reforms," Reuters said.

"When they say reforms, they sometimes mean dismantle," Gore said on ABC News during an interview last night. "He supported the Newt Gingrich assault on Medicare."

Bush campaign spokesman Dan Bartlett wasted no time in responding to Gore's charges, claiming the vice president was "grasping at straws" and was guilty of having a "selective memory."

Bartlett said Bush has never favored dismantling the Medicare program, but did back Gingrich's proposals to scale back the growth of the problem-plagued program because the impending retirement of tens of millions of "baby boomers" threatens to bankrupt the system.

"[Texas] Gov. Bush was proud that congressional Republicans balanced the budget and saved Medicare," Bartlett said in a statement release by the Bush campaign yesterday.

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"Just like in 1996, Al Gore is attempting to scare seniors to vote for him," Bartlett said. "After vetoing Gingrich's Medicare program for political purposes right before the 1996 election, the Clinton-Gore administration signed Gingrich's Medicare proposal into law the very next year."

Indeed, two years after Republicans offered a $360 billion spending cut in Medicare over seven years, President Clinton finally accepted a $112 billion cut in 1997.

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