GOP consultant Ed Rollins insisted he just wanted to tweak a political rival with a fabricated story about paying black ministers to suppress the black vote in New Jersey's gubernatorial race.

He conceded sending a campaign worker to see black ministers but only to counter Democratic pressure on the ministers.Rollins said he deeply regretted the fallout over his remarks: "It's to a point where I've . . . thought of putting a gun to my head," Rollins told Democratic Party attorneys questioning him under oath Friday.

Rollins said his remarks - subsequently retracted - stemmed from his rivalry with Democratic campaign strategist James Carville, who helped engineer President Clinton's victory last year.

Carville ran Gov. Jim Florio's campaign; Rollins, Gov.-elect Christie Whitman's.

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Rollins testified that, after he told reporters black ministers were offered charitable donations to refrain from preaching for Florio and Democratic campaign workers were paid to be idle on Election Day, he expected reporters to call Carville and say, "`Rollins kicked your ass . . . and here's how he did it."'

Rollins said he was told Democrats pressured inner-city leaders to get votes, allegedly threatening to cut off funding to day-care centers and other local programs.

Rollins said to counter the Democratic tactics he told Lonna Hooks, the Whitman campaign liaison to the black community, to "go back to these people . . . as far as we're concerned we want to help them. Whatever their favorite charity may be, there are other ways of helping them besides state funding."

Rollins says he didn't authorize Hooks to commit any money to the effort but told her: "Tell them, if they don't go up to the pulpit and preach against us on Sunday, we'd be way ahead of the game."

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