1 Striking back Monday in the row over President Clinton's nominee for U.S. surgeon general, Vice President Al Gore called Dr. Henry Foster Jr. the victim of an anti-abortion campaign to intimidate Congress. 'We're not going to let the extremists win,' Gore declared.
2 But critics of the Tennessee obstetrician showed no sign of easing up. Republican Newt Gingrich, speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, said: 'I think he's going to be very hard to confirm. I think it's going to be a very embarrassing set of hearings.'
3 In Washington, even White House press secretary Mike McCurry admitted problems. 'We have our work cut out for us,' he said.
4 But McCurry joined in the tougher rhetoric the Clinton administration has begun using. He said extremists in the right-to-life movement 'have now hooked Republicans and Congress by the nose, and they're dragging them around.'
5 President Clinton left the strong talk to his officials. He said the controversy isn't distracting him from other work and that he expected Foster to be confirmed if considered 'by a fair-minded Senate.'
6 Senate hearings are expected next month with a confirmation vote to follow.
7 The surgeon general's position is symbolic. Considered the nation's highest health official, the surgeon general speaks his mind on health issues but does not set policy except through the prestige of his office.
8 Clinton presented Foster last week as a physician whose work against teen-age pregnancy in Nashville, Tennessee, well qualifies him to reduce the phenomenon throughout the United States. The nomination came under fire immediately as anti-abortion activists charged that he performed abortions, which are legal but emotionally explosive among many Americans. Polls have shown that Americans overwhelmingly approve giving women a choice of whether to abort a pregnancy.
9 Opposition within the Senate grew after he and the White House differed on the number of abortions he had performed. Foster said he performed 39 and supervised a drug trial in which 55 women ended their pregnancies after moving to Tennessee in the 1970s. The White House twice understated the number.
10 Dispatching Gore to Tennessee was the latest in a newly aggressive White House campaign to save the nomination. While most nominees are held from public view until their confirmation hearings, Foster has defended himself in a medical school speech, a newspaper article and a national television interview.
11 On Monday, sitting elbow-to-elbow with Foster in a cramped low-income apartment in Nashville, Gore stepped up the White House campaign to emphasize the doctor's efforts to reduce teen-age pregnancy among inner-city youths. The apartment houses Foster's 'I Have a Future' program that teaches self-esteem and urges youths to abstain from sex.
12 Fewer unwanted pregnancies would mean fewer abortions, Gore said.
13 Asked his position on abortion, Foster said, 'Safe, legal and rare.'
14 'Anybody who wants to see fewer abortions in this country ought to applaud the nomination of Dr. Henry Foster,' said Gore, a former Tennessee senator. 'He has devoted his life . to making abortion less necessary.'
15 The remarks were clearly aimed at anti-abortion groups rallying against the nomination and the lawmakers who listen to them. The White House hopes to label any senator voting against Foster as an opponent of legalized abortions.
16 'There are people in this country who want to criminalize a woman's right to choose, and they are now trying to make Dr. Foster a victim . to make an ideological, political point and win on behalf of the extremists,' Gore said.
17 'We are not going to let the extremists defeat this man.'

President Clinton left the strong talk to his officials . He said the controversy isn ' t distracting him from other work and that he expected Foster to be confirmed if considered " by a fair - minded Senate . "
distracting him from other work
What other tasks were being focused on at this period?