DATE=11/5/1999
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=GEORGE W. BUSH TEST (L ONLY)
NUMBER=2-255855
BYLINE=GIL BUTLER
DATELINE=WASHINGTON
INTERNET=YES
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:

INTRO:  Campaign advisers to leading Republican 
presidential candidate, George W. Bush, are rejecting 
suggestions that he may have harmed his campaign by 
incorrectly answering questions about international 
leaders.  VOA's Gil Butler reports on the Bush quiz 
conducted Thursday by a Boston television reporter.

TEXT:  Quick.  Name the president of Chechnya.  In an 
interview with Boston Television station WHDH, George 
W. Bush was unable to do that.  He also failed to name 
two other leaders.

            /// REPORTER/BUSH ACT ///

      (Reporter) And the Prime minister of India? 
      (Bush) The new Prime Minister of India //pause 
      //  uh, no.

            /// END ACT ///

The Texas Governor also failed to name correctly the 
general who recently took power in Pakistan, though he 
said it was good news for stability on the 
subcontinent.

Mr. Bush attempted to turn the tables on reporter Andy 
Hiller by asking him the name of the foreign minister 
of Mexico.  The reporter acknowledged that he didn't 
know, but added "I'm not running for President."

George W. Bush has been criticized in the past for 
mistaking Slovakia and Slovenia and giving the wrong 
designation for Kosovars, Greeks and East Timorese.  
In the Boston interview, he correctly named the 
president of Taiwan.

Mr. Bush is expected to make public a detailed foreign 
policy in a few weeks.

For the record, the leaders of Chechnya, Taiwan, India 
and Pakistan are, in order: Aslan Maskhadov, Lee Tung 
Hue, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, and General Pervez 
Musharraf. (Signed)

NEB/MGB/KL



05-Nov-1999 11:04 AM EDT (05-Nov-1999 1604 UTC)
NNNN

Source: Voice of America
.