Vice President Al Gore's newest campaign strategist masterminded the tobacco industry ads opposing President Clinton's effort to fight teen-age smoking.

Carter Eskew is taking a leave of absence from his job as partner of the BSMG Worldwide public relations firm. But he will continue as a paid consultant even as he advises Gore, the firm said. Eskew personally developed the tobacco ad campaign that helped derail legislation, championed by Clinton and Gore, that would have raised cigarette taxes and curbed teen-age smoking. The chairman of the Republican National Committee, Jim Nicholson, whose party killed the tobacco bill in the Senate, has accused Gore of hypocrisy for hiring Eskew. Anti-smoking activists and congressional watchdog groups also have questioned the move.

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