GINGRICH TRIES TO AVOID MOTHER ISSUE.(MAIN)

Byline: Associated Press

WASHINGTON Weeks after it was seemingly put to rest, the issue of what House Speaker Newt Gingrich thinks of Hillary Rodham Clinton lurched into view again Friday.

Asked by a reporter why he did not ``apologize to American women'' for calling Hillary Clinton a ``bitch,'' a flustered and angry Gingrich denied making the remark.

``I never said I never said to the best of my knowledge, I never said what you just said,'' Gingrich said.

Gingrich's mother, Kathleen Gingrich, in a televised interview in January with CBS anchorwoman Connie Chung, had said her son used the word to describe Hillary Clinton. Chung was …