PRESIDENT Clinton's health is becoming an election campaign issue as the Republican contender, Mr Bob Dole, puts pressure on him to disclose his medical records, writes Joe Carroll.
Mr Dole has been angered at the Clinton negative advertising campaign depicting him as old and in favour of cutting Medicare benefits.
Mr Dole (73), whose right arm is crippled from war wounds and who has had prostate cancer, has made his medical records public, but Mr Clinton has so far refused.
However, his press secretary, Mr Mike McCurry, releasing summaries of Mr Clinton's medical records, was forced into embarrassing exchanges with reporters.
"Let's have your health records, Mr President. I gave them all of mine," Mr Dole repeated while campaigning in Kentucky.
Mr McCurry, accompanying Mr Clinton in California, said the Dole demand showed "the paucity of ideas in his campaign that he's attempting to raise a non issue".
But he was then asked if the President was being treated for sexually transmitted diseases or if he had been tested for the AIDS virus.
Mr McCurry expressed shock and denied that the President was being treated for a sexually transmitted disease, saying that if the regular tests had revealed one, "it would have been accurately and timely reported to you". He insisted that Mr Clinton's medical test records are private but added that some are "embarrassing".
Asked what tests might be embarrassing, Mr McCurry said: "Look, I'm trying to keep some level of dignity here. I'm talking about things like rectal exams, okay? Do you want to have all those things spread out there?"
Mr Dole's campaign spokeswoman, Ms Christina Martin, said that such tests should be made public because men of Mr Clinton's age, which is 50, are prone to cancer. The Clinton campaign responded by distributing a newspaper account saying that Mr Dole has not released details of a 1982 angiogram or mental examinations.