News digest
Rivals ready rejoinders for Sunday’s St. Louis debate
WASHINGTON—President Bush
studied at the White House on Tues
day for Sunday’s Ieadoff debate. Bill
Clinton summoned stand-ins for mock
debates in Kansas City, including a
Washington lawyer to play Bush and
an Oklahoma congressman to play
Ross Perot.
With the approach of the nation
ally televised debate, which the Bush
forces hope will shake up the final few
weeksof Campaign’92, full-tiltprepa
ration was beginning.
Clinton planned to hole up in battle
ground Missouri for the latter part of
the week, practicing and trying to
figure out Bush attack avenues in
advance of the real
show, set for Sun
day across the
state in St. Louis.
Bush, mean
while, charted his
own debate tactics
Tuesday from the
White House, setting aside three hours
fora session with Chief of Staff James
A. Baker III, budget director Richard
Darman and other top policy aides.
If and when Bush moves on to
Russia sends troops
to Abkhazian coast
MOSCOW — President Boris
Yeltsin said Tuesday that Russian
troops were taking control of the rail
way and the coast in Georgia’s sepa
ratist region of Abkhazia, deepening
Moscow’s involvement in the troubled
area.
Yeltsin told lawmakers ihpk Russia
was not involved in offensive rfiililary
actions in Abkhazia, disputing accu
sations by Georgia’s Defense Minis
try that Kremlin forces were aiding
the separatists.
Both former Soviet republics have
engaged in an increasingly sharp war
of words over the 6-wcek-old con
met, in wmcn ueorgia sent troops 10
Abkhazia to root out supporters of
ousted Georgian President Zviad
Gamsakhurdia. Abkhaziaclaimsthcy
were sent to crush its independence
drive.
The move by Yeltsin appeared
aimed at protecting the railway and
Black Sea coast, rather than an at
tempt to seize territory. The north
south railroad, Russia’s main land
link with Georgia and Armenia, has
come under attack during the unrest in
the Caucasus Mountains nation.
However, Georgia was likely to
regard the move as an infringement
on its territory. All the principal cities
of Abkhazia, including its capital of
- Sukhumi, are along the coast. Along
with their ports, they represent the
richest part of the western region of
Georgia.
Georgian leader Eduard
Shevardnadze, while not responding
directly to the announced seizure of
the railway, criticized a statement
Yeltsin had made earlier in the day.
Yeltsin had said: “Russia will not
stand aloof when human rights arc
violated, the interests of people of
Russian origin arc trampled.”
At a news conference in Tbilisi,
Shevardnadze said all Russians —
including its military—haveenjoyed
full legal rights in Georgia and were
safe from harm.
ine president (Yeltsin) Dcneves
that he is obliged to protect and de
fend the rights of Russian nationalists
wherever they may be, including
Georgia,” Shevardnadze said. “If we
are guided by this principle, then any
kind of annexation of territory may be
justified.”
On Sept. 3, Yeltsin and
Shevardnadze agreed to joint Geor
gian-Russian military control of rail
roads, highways and bridges in
Abkhazia, to protect them in the con
flict. But Yeltsin told the Russian
legislature Tuesday that Russian
troops were taking the railway “en
tirely under our control.”
“We are taking full control over
the railway on Abkhazian territory,
from the Russian-Abkhazian border,
crehearsal debates — aides said there
could be one Saturday at the White
House — Darman could play the role
of Clinton.
Robert Barnett, a Democratic at
torney who played Bush in mock de
bates for Geraldine Ferraro and
Dukak is in the past two elections, was
heading to Kansas City with his 12
year Bush file in tow.
“The goal is not to imitate George
Bush; that’s Dana Carvey,” said
Barnett, referring to the Saturday Night
Live actor. He said of Bush: “My goal
is to state his positions, his attacks, his
.
to the Abkha/.ian-Gcorgian border,”
Yeltsin said. “And the coastline, from
the railway to the sea.”
“That means additional forces,”
Yeltsin said. “Yes, there is shooting
there, and we are defending our mate
riel and ourselves. We aren’t taking
direct part in military actions.”
On Saturday, Georgia’s ruling State
Council said it was seizing all mili
tary hardware in Georgia from the
Russian troops.
punch lines.”
Rep. Mike Synar of Oklahoma —
tapped by Clinton to play Perot be
cause he’s a quick study and hails
fromastatc close to Perot’s Texas—
was heading to Kansas City, loo.
Clinton was set to be there Thursday
through Saturday.
Clinton’s aides huddled in Little
Rock on Tuesday, ready to prod him
to be more aggressive on the stage.
Many inside the Clinton campaign
thought he was too gentlemanly dur
ing the primary debates, landing lough,
good lines only when riled by an
opponent. They want him to land the
tough lines first with Bush.
Perot’s staff said the independent
candidate hasn’t done any debate re
hearsals and doesn’t plan any.
“He is the producer and script
writer,” said his national volunteer
coordinator, Orson Swindle, adding
that Perot has been studying the is
sues.
“I think it’s safe to say Perot will be
Perot,” Swindle said. “It will be unor
thodox. It will not be like you have
seen in the past.”
House members go home;
tax bill impedes Senators
WASHINGTON — The 102nd
Congress stumbled toward adjourn
ment Tuesday, the House going home
but the Senate staying on to face a S27
billion tax bill and stubborn stalling
by dissenting lawmakers.
It was a filling final act fora messy,
contentious Congress.
House members approved the dis
puted tax bill on a 208-202 vote and
left shortly after noon, presumably for
the year — though they could return
to session, if necessary.
House Majority Leader Richard
Gephardt told President Bush in a
telephone call: “We have now sent
our members home. Uur legislative
effort has been completed.” He said
the House’s adjournment would take
effect officially once the Senate con
cludes.
But no one was sure when that
would be. The Senate was recessing
for the Jewish Yom Kippur holy day
Tuesday evening, but planned to re
turn on Thursday. Senate Majority
Leader George Mitchell said the Sen
ate may drag on until Saturday or even
into next week.
The uncertainty in the Senate threw
into doubt not just the tax bill but a
smattering of other bills passed by the
House but left in limbo by Senate
inaction. Among them was an anti
carjacking bill, a housing bill that
would raise the limits on FHA home
loans, and a major energy bill.
Republicans said that even if
Democrats manage to dislodge the
tax bill, Bush might veto iu
Lawmakers in both parties were in
a rush to return home to campaign for
re-election.
But adjournment, already put off
by one day, became elusive when
Sen. Alfonsc D’Amalo, a New York
Republican battling for re-election,
snarled the Senate in a 15-hour fili
buster over the lax bill after it cleared
the House early Tuesday morning.
Then, another vulnerable Republi
can, Sen. John Seymour of California,
stalled the Senate again by. invoking
[ uk s luucmaiiu uiai LiviKMCtiuaiuuu
the full text of a long, detailed water
projects bill he opposes.
D’Amato’s filibuster was an un
conventional one: He wasn’t so much
seeking to obstruct the bill as to de
mand that a deleted provision be re
stored — one designed to jhovide
relief for New York state typewriter
factory workers facing loss of their
jobs.
Aided by a pair of sympathetic
senators, D’Amato gamely held the
floor through the night and beyond
noon. His talk turned to song a few
times.
But D’Amato’s hopes of changing
the bill evaporated when the House,
which would also have to approve any
change, went home.
Bush’s veto streak falters at inopportune time
WASHINGTON—President Bush
calls his 35-1 veto record a “good
streak.” But the first defeat couldn’t
have come at a worse time.
The override of Bush’s veto of
legislation to re-regulate the cable
industry dealt a major psychological
setback at a
time when
he hardly
needed
more bad
news.,
In a bla
tant gesture
of kick
him-when
hc’s-down,
Democrats
in the House whistled, cheered and
shouted “Four more months” Mon
* M.
Congress deals president cable bill blow 4
day night as B ush ’s perfect veto record
was broken.
When he was soaring in popular
ity, such an override would have been
unthinkable.
In the past, Bush managed to prej
vail even when the measures he ve>
toed were politically appealing.
In January 1990, he was even able
to persuade the Senate to sustain his
veto of a popular bill protecting Chi
nese students from deportation after
the House of Representatives voted
390-25 to override.
But Democrats have managed to
turn Bush’s veto strategy—astrategy
that once gave him enormous lever
age despite Democratic majorities in
both chambers — into a weapon
against him in the final days of the
campaign.
At the Republican National Con
vention in August, Bush said he would
use his veto pen to hold the line on
spending. Instead Congress has sent
him popular measures that hold po
tential for political damage when they
arc vetoed.
For example, Bush vetoed a bill
requiring employers to provide work
ers with time off in family emergen
cies and he prevailed. But he paid a
price—giving the Democrats a chance
to claim he lacks commitment to the
family values he and other Republi
cans trumpeted at their convention.
With the president unable to close
the gap with Democratic nominee
Bill Clinton in national polls, the
cable-TV veto override was just one
more political sour note for Bush.
To make matters worse, Demo
cratic vice presidential nominee A1
Gore was a sponsor of the bill that
nearly everyone but Bush and the
cable industry seemed to like.
The president’sexplanation for his
defeat: “We were overwhelmed by a
very good sales job on the part of the
networks.” Bush had argued that the
bill, while ostensibly seeking to lower
cable rates, would end up costing
consumers more.
* ..
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Kuwaiti opposition gains Parliament seats
KUWAIT — Government critics
woke up to something of a shock
Tuesday — a landslide victory in
Kuwait’s first parliamentary elections
in seven years.
Seven loosely allied opposition
groups and independent candidates
captured 35 of the 50 Parliament seals.
Most of the 15 solid scats for the
government came from the ruling al
Sabah family’s traditional supporters
in tribal areas.
Ward politicians who tried to trade
on their influence with the bureau
cracy lost nearly everywhere in
Monday’s vote.
“I think the Iraqi invasion was a
shock to the Kuwaitis. They did not
want to give any chance to somebnc
, interested in dilly-dallying. They want
strong representatives,” said Abdul
Rahman al-Najjar, acolumnist for the
government-backed newspaper Sawt
Al-Kuwait.
But it was unclear how much power
the opposition will be allowed to wield.
The ruling family ignored previous
parliaments in choosing a Cabinet to
run government agencies and dis
solved the previous Parliament in
1986.
Throughout the 18 months since
Iraqi occupiers were driven from
Kuwait in the Gulf War, opposition ’
speeches calling for a strong Parlia
ment to supervise the government
seemed to draw only small knots of
committed followers in this emirate
of 650,000 people.
But the election indicated that the
country — or at least the male elite
allowed to vote—agreed. Only about
81-.500 “first-class citizens” who can
trace Kuwaiti ancestry to 1921 could
vole.
“It's definitely much much belter
lhan expected. We thought pro-gov
ernment candidates would win,” said
Mubarak al-Adwani,aspokesman for
one opposition group.
There was no immediate reaction
from the government or the al-Sabah
princes, who were barred from vot
ing.
“I am sure none of them slept
yesterday when they learned the re
sults. But they will have to accept it
because the whole world is watching
whether Kuwait is democratic,” said
Imad al-Scif, a lawyer who ran the
successful campaign of opposition
leader Ahmed al-Khalib.
“The people in Kuwait need a
strong Parliament to stop the govern
ment and the royal family from their
continuing mistakes," he said.
