The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current, October 11, 1988, Page 2, Image 2

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    News Digest!&£b
Candidates prepare for debate; Quayle refines answers
George Bush and Michael
Dukakis courted the support of Ital
ian-Americans in competing Colum
bus Day appearances Monday that
left plenty of time to polish their lines
in private for this week’s second and
final presidential campaign debate.
It was a day that mixed campaign
rhetoric with colorful made-for-tefe
vision images.
Dukakis proposed a plan to make
it easier for first-time home buyers tc
finance their residences before
marching in a Columbus Day parade
up Fifth Avenue in mid-town Man
hattan alongside Gov. Mario Cuomo,
New York Mayor Ed Koch and John
F. Kennedy Jr.
Bush took a turn at a pool table in
an Italian neighborhood in New Jer
sey, flouncing the No. 4 ball in the
comer pocket while the morning
patrons cheered. After that came a
speech on crime.
Their daily campaign rounds
over, both men hustied back to their
political lairs to resume preparations
for their prime-time debate later in
the week.
Both camps said they expected the
90-minute debate to be held at 9 pjn.
EDT Thursday night on the campus
of UCLA, and the presidential rivals
were flying to the West Coast on
Tuesday to prepare.
The candidates exuded confi
dence as they began the final four
weeks of campaigning.
The vice president, a step ahead in
the polls, said he was heartened by
surveys showing him the leader
across the South and in other key
states.
Countered Dukakis: ‘This one is
out there to be won.... We can taste
it We can feel it”
Indiana Sen. Dan Quayle was the
only vice presidential candidate wuh
appearances scheduled.
He was in Ohio and Michigan,
where lie offered another refinement
of the answer to the question in last
week’s debate that plagued him —
what would he do if he suddenly
became president
He said he would make a request
to speak to the nation and would
consult with U.S. allies.
“Obviously you do different
things under an assassination. The
first thing you do in an assassination
— I would still say a prayer for
myself and the nation — but the first
thing you do is you get on the phone
and call the head of the CIA and see
what he thinks it was. You don’t
convene a Cabinet meeting right
away.” Quayle said.
“You get your secretary of de
fense, your national security adviser,
your Secretary of State and meet with
them immediately. In the situation of
an illness it would be a different type
of situation," he said.
Dukakis attacked Bush’s record
on housing issues in his first stop of
the day.
“George Bush has no housing
program. He has no solutions,” the
Democrat said in a speech in Levit
town, a Long Island community that
was the embodiment of the post
World Wart II boom in affordable
housing. “He has no new ideas.”
But the vice president got the
endorsement of 11 Progress, an Iial
ian-language newspaper, which said
the ’’traditional values of Italian
Americans can be found in the elec
toral program of Vice President
Bush.
Italian-American Cuomo an
swered for Dukakis, saying, “Then
they ought to change their name.
The vice president street-cam
paigned in New Jersey, walking
through an Italian neighborhood in
south Trenton before delivering a
speech on crime.
“Frankly, law-abiding Americans
are fed up with the cruel and unusual
punishment inflicted on them by
those who are soft on crime,” the vice
president said.
He proposed making it easier for
victims to collect civil judgements
for restitution and allowing them to
receive more money automatically if
a convict’s financial situation im
proved.
. 1
Clocks latest sign of Estonian autonomy
TALLINN, U.S.SJL — When
Soviets set their clocks ahead next
spring for an extra hour of daylight,
Estonia won't switch with them
The tiny Baltic republic will no
longer tick to the time in Moscow,
500 miles to the south, but to the
time in Finland, 50 miles to the
north.
Thus, even the clocks will re
flect the new spirit of independ
ence among Estonians.
Long viewed as one of the most
progressive of the 15 Soviet repub
lics, Estonia is trying in many other
ways to set its own course. Its lead
ers hope to use their independence
to demonstrate the effectiveness of
President Mikhail S. Gorbachev's
social and economic reforms.
With the blessing of the
republic’s Communist Party, offi
cials are planning to open trade
offices abroad, enter joint ventures
with Western companies without
Moscow approval, return to family
fanning, and even issue their own
currency that, unlike the ruble,
could be traded on world markets.
“The Communist Party of Esto
nia can be regarded as one of the
front-rankers of the reconstruction
drive. Estonia has been the initiator
of many reforms,” said Estonian
party chief Vaijno Vyalyas.
“At the bottom of our hearts, all
Estonians want secession,” said
Ulo Kaevats, head of the auditing
commission of the People’s Front
a grassroots; organization pushing
for reform. “But if we did put for
ward this question, we would have
martial law, and we all know that
very well.”
The self-restraint seems to be
paying off for the People’s FronL
The group’s blue, red and green
emblem can be seen on posters,
flags and buttons throughout
Tallinn, Estonia’s ancient seaside
capital. State-run radio broadcast
the front’s organizing conference
live Oct. 1-2, and newspapers re
ported it on their front pages.
Even in Moscow, the centrally
controlled press, which has
branded other such groups as “anti
socialist,” carried generally sym
pathetic reports on the People’s
Front
The People’s Front demanded
“decolonization” and seeks local
control of agriculture, industry and
businesses without interference
from Moscow. The group also
wants Estonian to be the republic’s
official language and proposes
curbs on the settlement of non
Estonians, who make up 40 percent
of the republic’s population.
The group also is after political
power. It has fielded candidates in
local elections and plans to put up
more in legislative elections next
spring.
Andy Manhart/Dally Nebraskan
Kerrey blasts Karnes and Bahler for negative campaign
LINCOLN — Democrat Bob
Kerrey said Monday that an attempt
by his Republican Senate opponent to
link him with actress Jane Fonda has
pushed him to the limit of his pa
tience.
“This isn’t a cheap shot; it is a lie,"
Kerrey said about a statement by U.S.
Sen. Dave Karnes. "The statement
displays gross insensitivity to the
pain and anger which Vietnam veter
ans still feel toward Miss Fonda."
Kerrey won the Medal of Honor
for his action as a Navy commando
during the Vietnam War. He suffered
a wound that cost him part of a leg.*
Karnes had said Kerrey has been
invited to a fund-raiser sponsored by
Hollywood Women’s PAC.
“One of the key players in the
Hollywood Women’s PAC is Jane
Fonda,” Karnes said. “They want to
have Bob Kerrey back in the United
i-■ 1 - 1
States Senate because they can count
on his vote. ... And people of Ne
braska think that this guy is just like
one of us.”
Kerrey, who spoke to students at
Omaha’s Westside High School, said
that he served in Vietnam and that
friends suffered because of Miss
Fonda’s much publicized trip to
North Vietnam.
‘‘So kindly pick a different liberal
to accuse me of associating with; or
pick a different person other than me
to assoc iatc with Jane Fonda,” Kerrey
said.
Kerrey also criticized Karnes for
running a negative campaign.
Brent Bahlcr, political director foi
the Karnes campaign, declined to
respond to Kerrey’s charges until he
had seen a copy of his remarks.
Kerrey objected to what he said
was an attempt to discredit him by
Jack Hart, a former aide and long
time friend to former Republican
Gov. Charles Thone.
Kerrey said the husband of Kar
nes’ campaign manager filed incor
poration papers for the group that
published Hart’s report. That report
was critical of Kerrey’s handling of
the Commonwealth Savings Co.
collapse.
Hart has said the group is separate
from the Karnes campaign.
Kerrey attributed some of the most
negative behavior of the Karnes
campaign to Bahler.
“He is a man who docs not care for
Nebraska.” Kerrey said. “His well
known slur of Kansas while he'
worked for Sen. Bob Dole demon
strates his contempt for the people of
the Great Plains.”
--- ' t
In February 1986, Harris News
Service columnist John Marshall
wrote that Bahler, Dole’s press secre
tary, made this remark to reporters at
the Kansas Slatehouse press room:
“What a wasteland. We were in
Garden City. Gawd. And then there
was the drive from Garden City to
Hays. There is absolutely nothing out
there. Absolutely nothing. Oh, there
are a few cows lying flat on the
ground. 1 am convinced now that if
you are reincarnated, that’s where
God sends you if you f— up.”
Kerrey also said Karnes’ assertion
that Kerrey is a tax-and-spend liberal
is preposterous in two ways: “My
record as governor and vour record as
senator.”
He said he agreed with Karnes that
the federal budget deficit must be
contained first by having Congress
i" ■ ■ —— -
stop its wasteful spending, yet he said
Karnes ’ borrow ing of staff from other
senators and his use of franked mail
has gained him a national reputation.
Kerrey said that U.S. Sen. J. James
Exon, D-Neb., immediately was able
to account for the use of his 1988
Senate office funds but that Karnes
has said it will take a while to get the
information.
Kerrey said Karnes could get the
information in five minutes by call
ing the disbursing office of the secre
tary of the Senate.
“Unfortunately, your call will be
long distance,” Kerrey said. “For
unlike every other Republican and
Democratic senator who is standing
for election, you have chosen to
campaign full lime. You havechosen
to remain in Nebraska while the
Senate is in session and voting on
important issues.”
Congress aiming to finish drug, tax bills
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Nebraskan
Editor
Managing Editor
Assoc. Nows Editors
Editorial
Page Editor
Wire Editor
Copy Desk Editor
Sports Editor
Arts K Entertain
ment Editor
Diversions Editor
Sower Editor
Graphics Editor
Photo Chief
Curt Wagner
472 1786
Otar x Johnson
Jar* Hlrt
Lee Rood
Mika Rellley
Bob Nelson
Chuck Green
Steve Sipple
Mlckl Haller
Joeth Zucco
Andy Pollock
Tim Hartmann
Eric Gregory
Asst Photo Chief
Night News Editor
Asst. Night News
Edltor\ibrarian
Art Directors
General Manager
Production Manager
Advertising Manager
Sales Manager
Circulation Manager
Publications Board
Chairman
Professional Adviser
David Fahlaaon
Amy Edwards
Anns Mohri
John Brucs
Andy Manhart
Dan Shaft II
Katharlns Pollcky
Flo bad Bat as
David Thlamann
EHc Shanks
Tom Macy
475-9868
Don Walton
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