Bush Blames Dems for DUI Controversy

— -- Five days before the election, GOP presidential candidate George W. Bush admits he was arrested for drunk driving in 1976. Bush says Democrats were behind the disclosure.

ABCNEWS.comNov. 3

— George W. Bush is accusing Democrats of playing “dirty politics” by leaking information about his 24-year-old arrest for drunken driving just days before

voters head to the polls.

“I believe that most Americans are going to come to the conclusion that this is dirty politics,” the Texas governor said in an interview with FOX News this afternoon.

Bush publicly admitted Thursday night, after it was reported by a Maine television station, that he had been arrested for driving under the influence on Labor Day weekend in 1976 near his family home in Kennebunkport.

Tom Connolly, a former nominee for governor in Maine and a delegate to the Democratic National Convention, acknowledged today that he had provided the information to the press.

“I don’t know whether my opponent’s campaign is involved,” the Republican candidate said today. “But I do know that the person who admitted doing it at the last minute was a Democrat and partisan.”

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But Gore campaign Chairman William Daley categorically denied any involvement.

“It is time for Governor Bush’s campaign to stop hurling charges, and start accepting responsibility,” Daley said in a statement e-mailed to reporters. “ Whatever questions remain unanswered are theresponsibility of Governor Bush and his campaign, not ours.”

Connolly, meanwhile, dismissed the Bush camp’s complaints about timing.

“Bush is the one who has been playing around with the truth,” added Connolly. “He’s known about it for 20 years.”

In his first campaign speech since the arrest was revealed, Bush made a veiled reference to the controversy.

“It has become clear to America over the course of this campaign that I have made mistakes in my life,” Bush said this morning at a rally in Grand Rapids, Mich.“but I am proud to tell you that I have learned from those mistakes.”