`I've always wanted to sell more food and medicine not only to Cuba but to other
 countries as well.'
 -- PRESIDENT CLINTON

 BY JODI A. ENDA
 Herald Washington Bureau

 WASHINGTON -- President Clinton said Wednesday that he would probably sign
 a bill to allow the sale of food and medicine to Cuba, easing sanctions designed
 to isolate the communist regime that have been in place nearly 40 years.

 Before he commits himself to an agreement reached Tuesday by House
 Republicans, however, Clinton said he needs to make sure the measure does not
 tie the hands of U.S. presidents in conducting foreign policy, and also that it does
 not place new restrictions on travel to Cuba.

 ``If I believe that the legislation essentially allows for the sale of American food
 and medicine to Cuba, or to other countries, but has some protection for us for
 extraordinary circumstances that foreign policy might require, then I would be
 inclined to sign the bill,'' the president said in a White House press conference.

 ``I've always wanted to sell more food and medicine not only to Cuba but to other
 countries as well,'' Clinton said, adding: ``I have some concerns about it, and I
 just have to analyze the bill as it passed, and whatever legislation finally makes
 its way to my desk.''

 Clinton said he was not prepared to fully normalize relations with Cuba ``until
 there is a bipartisan majority which believes that there has been some effort on
 the part of the Cuban government to reach out to us as well.''

 As he has in the past, Clinton blamed Cuban President Fidel Castro for turning
 the tide against normalization in 1996 by shooting down airplanes flown by four
 Miami-based Cuban exiles, all of whom were killed. The incident led Clinton to
 sign the Helms-Burton law, which codified an embargo against Cuba.

 Speaking shortly before 6-year-old refugee Elian Gonzalez left Washington for
 Cuba, Clinton defended his administration's decision to seize the boy from his
 Miami relatives in order to return him to his father.

 ``If he and his father decided they wanted to stay here, it would be fine with me,''
 Clinton said. ``But I think that the most important thing is that his father was
 adjudged by people who made an honest effort to determine that he was a good
 father, a loving father, committed to the son's welfare. And we upheld here what I
 think is a quite important principle, as well as what is clearly the law of the United
 States.

 ``Do I wish it had unfolded in a less dramatic, less traumatic way for all
 concerned? Of course, I do,'' he said, alluding to the early-morning April raid in
 which agents removed the boy from his great-uncle's home. ``I have replayed this
 in my mind many times. I don't know that we had many different options than we
 perceived, given how the thing developed. But I think the fundamental principle is
 the right one, and I am glad we did.''

 In other news, the president was asked several times to assess Vice President Al
 Gore's presidential campaign in light of polls that consistently show him trailing
 his Republican opponent, Texas Gov. George W. Bush.

 The president defended his second-in-command, saying he had accomplished
 more than any vice president in history and -- not excluding himself -- that,
 ``therefore, in my lifetime, he's the best qualified person to serve.''

 The president insisted voters would not hold Gore accountable for the scandals
 that have plagued his administration, saying the vice president had been
 implicated only in one, involving fundraising.

 The word ``scandal,'' he said, ``has been thrown around here like a clanging
 teapot for seven years.''

 The president then repeated a refrain of the Gore campaign, saying, ``My instinct
 is that people are still trying to figure out what they think about this race.''

 Clinton said he saw no reason for Attorney General Janet Reno to appoint a
 special counsel to investigate whether Gore told the truth about his role in the
 1996 campaign fundraising controversy.

 Last week, Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., revealed that the Justice Department
 official in charge of the campaign-finance task force had recommended that Reno
 appoint an independent investigator.

 ``It seems to me that the best thing to do is for the American people to make their
 own judgments about it,'' Clinton said.

 Clinton laughed when a reporter raised questions about Bush's intelligence and
 his reliance on advisors, and asked the president how important brain power is to
 his job.

 ``That's a dead-bang loser, isn't it?'' the president said. ``No matter what I say, I'm
 in a big hole.''

 Without impugning anyone's intelligence, Clinton went on to say that ``it's more a
 question of curiosity and willingness to learn what you think is important.''