Clinton Courts Voters---Like a True Democrat

Campaign: He tells a Latino convention that as president he would push for bilingual education. A new poll finds him trailing Bush and Perot.

SAN ANTONIO—Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton began his campaign for President promising to be a different kind of Democrat. But as his party’s presumptive nominee, he is spending his pre-convention time in the most traditional Democratic fashion.

 

On Tuesday, he met with Jewish groups, women who support abortion rights, black leaders and labor representatives. On Wednesday, in a speech to delegates at the League of United Latin American Citizens, he pledged to serve the Latino community as President.

 

“The old adage, ‘Mi casa es su casa,’ will be true when my house is the White House,” Clinton told the delegates.

 

Meanwhile, a new CNN/Gallup Poll put Clinton in third place — unlike an ABC/Washington Post poll earlier in the week, which put him first. But because of the margins of error, both polls are, in essence, statistical ties.

 

The new numbers: President Bush, 33%, Ross Perot, 32%, Clinton, 27%. The ABC/Post numbers: Clinton, 33%, Perot, 30%, Bush, 29%. The polls underscore the tightness of the race and the volatility of the electorate months before the election.

 

And Clinton’s money troubles seemed to be waning. He collected about $3 million in June, his best showing yet, his campaign reported.

 

Clinton’s debts had swelled to nearly $4 million in May, but in June he raised a record $3 million. Rahm Emanuel, Clinton’s national finance director, said the campaign’s outstanding loans and unpaid bills now total about $2.5 million and will be further reduced to $1.5 million by the start of the Democratic National Convention in two weeks.

 

“They’ll all be gone by Labor Day,” Emanuel said.

 

In San Antonio, Clinton’s message was old-line Democratic orthodoxy — notwithstanding his campaign theme that the Democrats have to move away from their liberal moorings.

 

Tailoring his remarks to Latinos, a voting group that has been courted by Republicans in recent presidential elections, Clinton pressed for full funding of Head Start, a national college fund and “meaningful” bilingual education.

 

“I come here to pledge to you an Administration that looks like America, that feels like America, that understands the pain and promise of this country and will involve you and all Americans in the struggle to make it better,” Clinton said.

 

The LULAC convention is a regular stop for Democratic presidential nominees — in 1988, Clinton’s predecessor, Michael S. Dukakis, also spoke to the group, lacing his remarks with Spanish. Aside from the “mi casa” reference, Clinton did not follow suit.

 

Clinton’s LULAC speech followed by a day his solicitation of support from the Congressional Black Caucus, which formally endorsed his campaign. Although many of the predominantly Democratic group had already joined the Clinton bandwagon, Tuesday’s meeting represented the first unified show of support for Clinton from black elected officials.

 

“We smell victory in the air,” Caucus Chairman Edolphus Towns (D-N.Y.) told reporters at a news conference, as a beaming Clinton stood shoulder to shoulder with several of the black lawmakers.

 

Both Towns and Clinton took pains to point out that their meeting was a positive, upbeat affair during which the recent feud between Clinton and the Rev. Jesse Jackson was never mentioned. Clinton told the caucus that he would include them in his planning and policy making during the campaign and, if elected, in his Administration.

 

“He promised them a partnership,” said Clinton staffer Rodney Slater.

 

While corralling support within his own base, Clinton has continued to press his case against Bush. On Wednesday, Clinton all but accused the Republican of hypocrisy for campaigning on the issue of “family values.”

 



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