Al Gore s top three West Wing advisers are there to focus the president s view. The Treasury secretary makes a backflip.
Republicans claim collusion and opportunism.
Clinton and Gore consulted by telephone before Gore began on Wednesday to roll out his pronouncement that the president should use some of the government s 571 million-barrel stockpile to nudge oil prices. Yesterday, as Gore held forth the opposite view at a Maryland oil distributorship, Summers telephoned a campaign reporter to explain. An administration official further clarified that Summers memo had specifically been directed against a Department of Energy proposal to sell 60 million barrels of oil, about one-tenth of the reserve, and not a more limited proposal like Gore s. Energy secretary Bill Richardson countered that it was the Republican-led Congress that failed to pass administration initiatives, chiefly the creation of a Northeast heating oil reserve. Copyright 2000 Associated Press.