Summary: ``We determine the asymptotic level spacing distribution for the Laguerre ensemble in a single-scaled interval, $(0,s)$, containing no levels, $E_\beta(0,s)$, via Dyson's Coulomb-fluid approach. For the $\alpha=0$ unitary Laguerre ensemble, we recover the exact spacing distribution found by both C. A. Tracy\ and H. Widom\ [Comm. Math. Phys. {\bf 161} (1994), no.~2, 289--309], while for $\alpha\neq 0$, the leading terms of $E_2(0,s)$, found by A. S. Edelman\ [SIAM J. Matrix Anal. Appl. {\bf 9} (1988), no.~4, 543--560; MR0964668 (89j:15039); Linear Algebra Appl. {\bf 159} (1991), 55--80; MR1133335 (92i:62028)] and P. J. Forrester\ [Nuclear Phys. B {\bf 402} (1993), no.~3, 709--728; MR1236195 (94h:82031)], are reproduced without the use of the Bessel kernel and the associated Painlevé transcendent. In the same approximation, the next leading term, due to a `finite-temperature' perturbation $(\beta\neq 2)$, is found.''