|
|
 |
President passed the hat in CaliforniaClinton tries to rally Democratic voters to the pollsWASHINGTON (AllPolitics, October 26) -- President Bill Clinton arrived back in Washington early Monday morning. His return to the White House was a marked contrast to the noisy reception he received from protestors in San Francisco Sunday afternoon. Approximately 60 demonstrators chanted: "Hey ho, Boxer, Clinton have got to go" and "He's late, he must have had a date" as the president's motorcade passed. One individual appeared as a 7-foot cigar with the slogan "Monica Nundo." A group of about 30 supporters countered the anti-Clinton demonstrators with signs like "We Love You President Clinton" and "Boxer/Clinton a Winning Team." Clinton was in town to speak at a fund-raiser for Senator Barbara Boxer's re-election campaign. The White House says Clinton helped raise more than two million dollars this weekend for Boxer, who according to a Los Angeles Times poll, has come from behind to take a five percentage point lead in her race with Republican state Treasurer Matt Fong. During his speech, the president tried to focus the same kind of intensity he put into last week's Mideast talks into getting Democrats to the ballot box. "We have the message, we have the candidates we have the unifying vision, " Clinton told the donors Sunday. "Don't let the fact that this is a mid-term election let the voter turnout be so low that we wind up disappointing ourselves on the day after the election." Clinton also used his trip to California to speak about the killing of Matthew Shepard, overtly wrapping the vicious murder of the gay college student into a pitch for the Democrats. "It looks pure and simple like someone took him out because he was gay," Clinton said at San Francisco's Mark Hopkins Hotel. "Now what's all this got to do with this election? Because every fundamental decision in the end is about whether you have a unifying view of America." The president attended fund-raisers on Saturday in Beverly Hills and Bel Air. At one of his four weekend fund-raisers, Barbara Streisand told a Bel Air dinner gathering that Independent Counsel Ken Starr and GOP leaders were using the investigation to "bludgeon" Clinton. "We must stop this attempted coup on our government," Streisand said. First daughter Chelsea Clinton visited her father Sunday morning at the private residence of real estate mogul Walter Shorenstein in the suburb of Seacliff. Chelsea is a sophomore at nearby Stanford University. Clinton's California trip was an attempt to try and buck the political tradition which usually sees the party controlling the White House losing congressional seats in the midterm elections. Add to that trend, the president's impeachment troubles, and some political analysts were suggesting Democratic prospects were bleak in Election '98. But others say Clinton's leading role in the Mideast agreement may help turn some of that around. "Historically, as you well know, they've lost 25 seats on the average in Congress. We're going to do so much better than that, people are going to be surprised," says DNC Chairman and Governor of Colorado, Roy Romer. Republican leaders discount that logic, saying the president's conduct will be a factor at the ballot box. "People trust us, and I think President Clinton's conduct has caused a trust deficit in the part of the Democratic Party and I think it's going to hurt them," RNC Chairman Jim Nicholson said on CNN's Late Edition Sunday. There is no way to know how the election will turn out until the votes are counted, but Clinton is doing his part, campaigning and raising funds for Democrats. CNN's Carl Rochelle and The Associated Press contributed to this report.MORE STORIES:Monday, October 26, 1998
• Poll: GOP enthusiasm higher as election approaches • Clinton attorney participated in depositions on Jones' sex life • Investigators: new details on how overseas companies funded Democratic donations
• President passed the hat in California • Political controversy brewing in wake of state senator killing • Poll: Davis ahead in Calif Governor race • Davis outspends Lungren in California race • Massachusetts, Rhode Island governor battles tightening • Lesbian challenges California congressman • GOP predicts gains in elections • South Carolina governor in surprise close race • GOP backs Alaska write-in candidate • Arizona, Massachusetts seek 'clean elections' • Poll: Fob James trails in Alabama race • Arizona to vote on cockfighting ban • Feingold rejects soft-money ads |
