Bush supports oil price probe, defends death penalty

LOS ANGELES - George W. Bush voiced support for an investigation of soaring gasoline prices, but he put most of the blame on the Clinton administration's failure to convince foreign crude producers to ''open the spigots.''

''I do think it's fair to have the FTC (Federal Trade Commission) investigate,'' Bush told reporters Wednesday, adding that the results would be ''healthy'' for the debate about prices that have climbed above $2 per gallon in Chicago and Milwaukee.

His Democratic rival for the presidency, Al Gore, countered that Bush has come late to the issue.

''Big oil may have gotten too big. The competitive pressures may not be what they used to be,'' Gore said aboard Air Force Two between campaign stops. The vice president quickly added he was not calling for a break up of any oil companies.

Bush, a former oilman who has built strong political ties to oil companies as Texas' GOP governor, said the ''main reason'' gasoline prices are up is the administration's inability to spur the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries to increase crude oil production.

''I would hope the administration could convince our friends at OPEC to open up the spigots,'' said Bush. ''That's what diplomacy is all about.''

A spokesman for Gore said he agrees the administration should toughen its negotiations with OPEC. But Gore, campaigning in Iowa, continued to focus on ''what may be big oil's price gouging.''

''I am going to keep challenging big oil until America gets some straight answers and affordable gas prices they deserve,'' Gore said as he opened a roundtable at a Des Moines union hall.

Later, asked about Bush's support of the FTC probe, Gore told The Associated Press, ''I welcome Governor Bush coming around to the point of what he belatedly said today.''

Bush tried to keep the focus on education during a three-day campaign swing through electoral vote-rich California, where he hopes to dent Gore's lead.

But he was dogged by protesters opposing the Texas death penalty and Thursday's scheduled execution of Gary Graham.

After protesters appeared outside a nonprofit learning center, where Bush proposed help for such centers to acquire computers, the governor defended criminal justice in Texas, where 134 inmates have been executed during his watch.

''As far as I'm concerned there has not been one innocent person executed since I've become governor,'' he told reporters.

In the White House race, a new poll shows Bush gaining popularity among voters, while support for Gore remains unchanged.

An NBC-Wall Street Journal poll released Wednesday found Bush was favored by 49 percent and Gore by 41 percent of registered voters. last April, the same poll had Bush at 46 percent and Gore at 41 percent.

Support decreased for both candidates when Green Party candidate and consumer activist Ralph Nader and Reform Party contender Pat Buchanan entered the picture. In a four-way matchup, Bush polled at 43 percent, Gore 38 percent, Nader 7 percent and Buchanan 4 percent.

The poll was based on interviews with 1,740 registered voters from June 14-16, and had a margin of error of 2.4 percentage points.

Bush's proposal for more federal spending to bring computers to nonprofit and faith-based learning programs was part of a package of education initiatives he has promoted in California ''to change the perception that our party is anti-education.''

''The great challenge facing America is whether or not all people have access to the new technology,'' Bush told students of the PUENTE Learning Center, a privately funded center that teaches mostly Hispanic children and adults.

His plan would provide $80 million a year to match current federal grants for more than 2,000 such facilities, campaign officials said.

The all-Hispanic audience included several adult students who said they wouldn't vote for Bush because he is a member of the Republican Party that pushed the now-defunct Proposition 187, which cut off government services to illegal immigrants.

''Some of my daughter's friends were kept from school because of Prop 187,'' said Aurora Moreno, 63, an adult English and computer student. ''He says he's against it, but you never know. They say a lot of nice things, the politicians.''