Irked Auto-Show Fans Boo Gore, Russian

CHICAGO - Vice President Al Gore brought Russia's prime minister to see America's heartland yesterday only to get an angry reception from an auto-show crowd forced to cool its heels while the dignitaries got a private tour.

"Refund! Refund!" hundreds of Chicago Auto Show ticket buyers chanted as Secret Service agents and police barred them from entering the auto show for 40 minutes while Gore was inside with Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin.

Waves of booing erupted periodically from the auto enthusiasts as they waited, and sustained booing met Gore and Chernomyrdin when they emerged from the show floor at the McCormick Place exposition center to make remarks.

The remarks were cut short.

"I'd like to apologize," Mayor Richard Daley said. "Like anything else, we've got a prime minister of Russia here and the vice president of the United States." He didn't say why that was like anything else but quickly turned the microphone over to Gore.

"We apologize for being late," Gore said over a din of booing. He said the problem was that the plane was late taking off because of "the snowstorm in Washington."

With that he turned the microphone over to Chernomyrdin who made his brief remarks in Russian to the throng of Chicagoans who were still being held back at the entrance and still roaring their disapproval.

"I want to say hello to everybody," he said through an interpreter, shouting through the boos. "You make great cars. Let's get into these cars and go into the future."

The three officials were on the speaker's platform for less than one minute each.