Cuomo, on Doorstep of N.H., Scores Bush : Economy: The New York governor attacks Administration policies at an address at Harvard, stirring more speculation about possible candidacy.

Sounding like a presidential candidate--but denying that he has any plans to become one--New York Gov. Mario M. Cuomo delivered a scathing attack on Bush Administration economic policies Wednesday, saying they fail to confront the nation’s deeper problems.

As Cuomo gave what had been billed as a major economic address at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, several organizers of a “Draft Cuomo” effort handed out flyers and campaign buttons outside.

In his eloquent and humorous speech accusing Bush of ignoring such deep-seated problems as crumbling infrastructure and waning competitiveness, Cuomo also indirectly criticized the other candidates in the presidential field.

“Americans want back the right to earn their own bread and security, and even a chance at comfort to pass on the American dream as it was passed to them,” the New York governor said. “They are asking at this moment: ‘Who can give it back to us?’ And most Americans, I think, believe that response so far has been faint.”

But he also predicted that one of the five major Democratic contenders currently in the race will soon emerge as a viable and electable candidate.

Polls indicate that the write-in movement for Cuomo in New Hampshire has grown at the same time that Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton’s troubles have mounted. Just Wednesday, the controversy over Clinton’s draft deferment increased when he released a letter he wrote in 1969 to the head of the University of Arkansas ROTC. And supermarket tabloids steadily supply unsubstantiated allegations of marital infidelity.

Cuomo’s speech was scheduled two months ago, but because of its timing and location--on the virtual doorstep of New Hampshire, the site of the first presidential primary Tuesday--a large contingent of national news media turned out.

Although Cuomo insisted that he has no connection with the efforts to draft him as a candidate, he also refused to disavow them. Referring to his problems with the state budget, Cuomo joked: “In my own state, they are saying lousy things about me. If they’re going to say nice things in New Hampshire, I’m going to encourage them.”

At a news conference after the address, reporters pressed Cuomo to say whether his decision last December not to enter the race is irreversible. His answers were like a rhetorical fan dance.

When asked whether he could foresee any change in circumstances that might draw him into the race, Cuomo said: “Not only do I not see it, I don’t look for it. If you’re not looking, you’re not going to see it.”

But he refused to say he would not change his mind and asked a subsequent questioner: “If I were willing to say I guarantee I won’t look for it, would you be willing to say that you believe I would never change my mind?”

The Cuomo write-in effort has developed into a well-financed, highly organized campaign. It plans to run ads beginning today in New Hampshire and has placed a slate of delegates--formally uncommitted--on the Illinois ballot.

One key test of the campaign will come today, the deadline for submitting Democratic ballot petitions in New York. Draft-Cuomo organizers hope to have enough signatures to place pro-Cuomo delegates on the April 7 primary ballot, but they concede that the state’s arcane laws have complicated the efforts.

In many states--including all the large March 10 Super Tuesday ones such as Florida, Texas and Massachusetts--filing deadlines have passed and write-in efforts would be massively difficult.

Tumulty reported from Cambridge and Lauter from Manchester, N.H.