S“jr*pu. News digest
Candidates take tightening race to heartland
Clinton again battles ‘buyer’s remorse’
WASHINGTON — When it hap
pened before, Bill Clinton said buyer’s
remorse was eroding his lead — but
he made the sale anyhow. In a replay
against President Bush, the odds point
to the same outcome.
Bush has been gaining but still
trails in the public opinion polls he’s
called cra/y, with weekend surveys
giving Clinton leads that range from
nearly 9 percentage points to as few as
3.
Those polls also show Ross Perot’s
independent support running in the
teens, a share that almost certainly
will hold the winner short of a popular
vote majority.
But when there’s a significant vote
for a third candidate, as in 1968 and
1980, it actually has widened the
winner’s margin in electoral votes,
the statc-by-statc competition that
settles presidential elections.
The narrowing poll margins near
election eve fit the pattern of presi
dential preference surveys in the final
days of a campaign, especially one in
which an incumbent president is strug
gling for a second term.
And Bush remains in electoral vote
peril even with his gains in the na
tional polls. The Republicans effec
tively wrote off states with 145 elec
toral votes, more than half the 270 it
takes to win, earlier in the campaign.
That left Bush competing in states
with 393 electoral votes, and means
he’s got to win more than two-thirds
of them. To do that, he will have to
capture every battleground state —
including some in which the polls
show him well behind — while de
fending GOP territory without a single
slip. >
Republican National Committee
Chairman Rich Bond insisted on Sun
day that it is manageable.
“I think you go to your basic coa
lition of your South and your West
and you add on Ohio, New Jersey,
Michigan, and that gets you to 270,”
he said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
But even that southern and western
coalition isn’t reliably solid this time.
And Bush also would have to carry
states like Pennsylvania, Wisconsin
and Missouri to gain an electoral
majority.
Brown said the Democrats always
expected the polling margins to nar
row near the end. He said Clinton’s
margin has started edging up again,
and “it probably is a five- or six- or
seven-point race now.”
Rivals make closing economic arguments
WASHINGTON — For Arkansas
Gov. Bill Clinton, the campaign sea
son ended much the way it began —
in a struggle to keep the spotlight on
the nation’s economic destiny.
President Bush’s thematic odys
sey took him from last winter’s “Mes
sage: I care” loclosing arguments that
Clintdn had run down Arkansas, would
raise everyone’s taxes and did not
have the integrity to sit in the Oval
Office.
* Clinton’s Victnam-cra draft his
tory was the cornerstone of Bush’s
attempt to raise doubts about his suit
. ability for the White House. But Bush
had his own problems on the trust
issue — including a late-breaking in
dictment of former Defense Secretary
Caspar Weinberger that challenged
Bush’s claims he was “out of the
loop” on the Iran-Contra arms-for
hostages deal.
The president also was challenged
on his no-new-taxes pledge. He still
branded Clinton as an old-fashioned
tax-and-spend Democrat— a line of
attack that drew many Republicans
belatedly back to the fold.
“Watch your wallets,” Bush
warned audience after audience.
It was an aggressive appeal against
Clinton, who was trying to break out
of his party’s liberal stereotype.
He was, he said, “a different kind
of Democrat” — who supported the
death penally and a two-year cap on
welfare; who was “committed not to
trickle-down economics and not to
tax-and-spend economics” but to in
vesting in jobs, education and infra
structure.
“He has done everything a Demo-,
crat needs to do in terms of trying to
reposition himself. We’ll see whether
the public believes it,” said analyst
Stuart Rothenbcrg.
The finale featured TV ads that
amounted to statistical duels over
Clinton’s long Arkansas record and
Bush’s stewardship of the national
economy. In speeches they accused
each other of deception and waffling
and broken promises.
Clinton called Bush’s economic
record worse than Herbert Hoover’s
and, at 46, depicted himself as the
logical candidate of change in a ydar
when voters seemed intent on clean
ing house.
But Bush, 6S, despite his lengthy
government resume,'wasn’t ceding
that ground. “Who do you trust to
make change?” he asjeed frequently,
and insisted Clinton would make the
economy worse.
Bill Clinton and George Bush
battled across the nation’s recession
scarred heartland on Sunday, the front
running Democrat summoning sup
porters to “fight on” for two more
days and the president attacking his
rival as “Slick Willie,” unfit to lead.
Ross Perot was campaigning in
California and unveiled a new 30
minute television commercial that
attacked both his rivals as failures on
economic leadership.
The daily CNN-USA Today na
tionwide poll showed Clinton with a
seven-point edge over Bush — up
from three points on Saturday — and
Perot a distant third.
There was more encouragement
for the Democrats in a spate of single
state surveys that gave Clinton a com
fortable edge in Missouri, a key battle
ground, and showed Bush with unex
pectedly slender leads in traditional
base Republican states such as Indi
ana, South Carolina and Virginia.
Bush’s rhetoric grew sharper as the
poll tidings grew dimmer.
“Slick Willie,” he said of his rival
in Auburn Hills, Mich. “He is bobbing
and weaving and you can’t do that as
president.”
Clinton, struggling to regain his
voice after a string of long days, said
the election was a choice between
“those who say things arc fine and
. those of us who believe we can do
better.”
Far more than the White House
was at stake in a year of unbridled
voter anger at incumbents of both
parties, as evidenced by the 14 states
with congressional term limitation
measures on the ballot.
Republicans all but conceded
Democrats would renew their majori
ties in the Senate and the House on
Tuesday, although an unusually large
number of races appeared close in the
final two days of the campaign.
Thcslatcs where Clinton and Bush
wcrccampaigning in the final 48 hours
of their race bore the scars of the
- it
I’d say the economy is
getting better. Don’t
listen to those who say
we’re in a recession.
Look at the character
issue, look at the trust
issue.
— Bush
-ff -
recent recession: Unemployment in
Michigan was 8.8 percent in Septem
ber; New Jersey 9 percent; Ohio 7.1
percent; Pennsylvania 7.6 percent;
Connecticut 6.9 percent.
Bush has frequently attributed his
political difficulties this year to the
economy, and says economic growth
has resumed after the recession, al
though slowly. Asked in a CNN inter
view what he would say to those who
supported him in 1988 but now seem
in Clinton’s column, he replied:
“I’d say the economy is getting
better. Don’t listen to those who say
we’re in a recession. Look at the
character issue. Look at the trust is
sue.”
He said Clinton’s brand of eco
nomics would produce a replica of the
Jimmy Carter years: “Interest rates up
at 21 percent, inflation at 15.... He
would not be good for the country.”
Clinton partook of three vital
American institutions: church, pro
fessional football and politics on the
final Sunday of his candidacy.
His voice nearly gone, Clinton lim
ited himself to a few words at a tail
gate parly in the parking lot outside
Cincinnati’s Riverfront Stadium.
“Fight on. Don’t give up. Go.”
Said Hillary Clinton, his stand-in:
“This campaign has been about c hang
ing this economy, giving back good
jobs to decent, hardworking Ameri
cans again and bringing this country
together,” she said.
Shuttle mission
ends in Florida
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. —
Columbia swooped through a clear
sky and landed at NASA’s spaceport
Sunday with six astronauts who re
leased a laser-reflecting satellite and
tested a robotic eye during their 10
day journey.
“Beautiful ending to a great mis
sion,” Kevin Chilton, an astronaut
inside Mission Control, told the crew.
Columbia landed on the concrete
runway at Kennedy Space Center at
9:05 a.m. EST. Just before noscwhccl
touchdown, the astronauts released a
red, white and blue drag chute that
slowed the shuttle as it rolled to a stop.
It was a fine morning for a landing.
There were only a few wispy clouds
and, contrary to earlier forecasts,
barely any fog.
More than 300 people were on
hand to welcome Columbia home.
Columbia traveled 4.1 million
miles during its voyage, which began
Oct. 22, and circled Earth 159 times.
It was the 51 si shuttle mission and the
13th flight of NASA’s oldest shuttle.
A quick inspection showed the
shuttle to be in good shape, said N AS A
launch director Bob Sicck.
Ground controllers had to scramble
when shuttle commander James
Wcthcrbcc reported during descent
the failure of a mechanical gauge that
displays the positions of the rudder,
body flaps and other flight control
surfaces. Mission Control told him to
turn the power off and on, which got
the gauge working but only for a few
minutes.
NASA spokesman Jeff Carr said it
appeared to be a power problem and
that the crew was able to monitor the
information on computer screens.
The five U.S. astronauts and one
Canadian completed their primary
orbital job — releasing the Laser
Gcodynamics Satellite — early in the
mission. They released the satellite
on Oct. 23, and an attached rocket
quickly boosted the craft into a 3,632
milc-high orbit.
?
■■ /> MALI I
5 American nuns slain in Liberia
MONROVIA, Liberia — Five
American nuns were shot lo death
behind rebel lines, Monrovia’s arch
bishop said Saturday. A spokesman
for the rebels denied they were re
sponsible.
Roman Catholic Archbishop
Michael Francis refused l(j>pcculalc
about who killed the nuns, all from
Illinoisandinihcir50sor6()s,butsaid
in an interview they had been “bru
tally murdered.”
Two were killed along a road and
the other three were slain in front of
their convent outside Monrovia,
Francis said, adding that he did not
know when they died. The nuns, mem
bers of the Adorers of the Blood of
Christ order, had been missing for
more than a week.
The Vatican newspaper
L’Osscrvatorc Romanocallcd the kill
ings a “massacre.”
Meanwhile, the battle for Monrovia
raged. Two jets of a seven-nation
West African force defending the city
screamed over the city and headed
behind rebel lines, where they have
been strafing roads to cut the rebels’
supply route.
Clouds of smoke from West Afri
can shells rose from Gardncrsvillc,
where the American nuns’ hcxJics still
lay on the street. It was loo dangerous
to recover them.
The chief suspects in the slayings
were the undisciplined fighters of
guerrilla leader Charles Taylor, who
have besieged Monrovia for 14 days.
Barbara Brillant, from Brunswick,
Maine, who is one of three remaining
American nuns in Liberia, said
Taylor’s fighters “see the CIA behind
every while face.” All the slain nuns
were white. x
In Washington, the Stale Depart
ment called the killings a “cowardly
act” and said the nuns were appar
ently slain several days ago in an area
under rebel control.
The United States holds Taylor’s
forces responsible for the safely of
foreign nationals in territory they hold,
the State Department said.
John Richardson, a spokesman lor
Taylor, denied the rebels killed the
nuns.
“I can assure you those nuns were
never in our area,’ he told the British
Broadcasting Corp.
Bush derides Iran-Contra probe
WASHINGTON—President Bush
refused to say Sunday whether he’d
fire Iran-Contra prosecutor Lawrence
Walsh after Election Day, but ac
cused him of engaging in “a big witch
hunt.”
Bush went on the attack against
Walsh as Democrat Edmund S.
Muskic, a member of the bipartisan
panel that investigated the Iran-Contra
affair, raised new questions about the
president’s role in the arms-for-hos
tage dealings.
Muskic said Bush’s “claims of ig
norance” about arms sales to Iran by
the Reagan White House “conflict
directly” with the latest revelation in
the affair—a note by former Defense
Secretary Caspar Weinberger saying
that Bush knew of the arms-for-hos
lagcs scheme on Jan. 7, 1986.
Bush has said he didn’t realize the
Reagan White House was trading arms
for hostages until mid-December
1986.
After the arms deal became public,
Bush requested an interview with
Muskic and the other two members of
the prcsidcntially appointed board,
John Tower and Bush’s current na
tional security adviser, Brent
Scowcrofl.
TheTower Board’saccountofthat
interview is at the Reagan library in
California and won’t become public
until 1994.
“Nothingemerged from that meet
ing to suggest that the Vice President
was well aware of or significantly
involved in the Iranian arms trans
fers,” Muskic said in a statement is
sued by Democrat Bill Clinton’scam
paign.
“In short, Vice President Bush pre
sented himself then as President Bush
likes to characterize his role now—as
being ‘outof the loop,’’’said Muskic’s
statement, issued Saturday night.
“But President Bush’s repeated
claims of ignorance about the arms
for-hostages deal now conflictdircctly
with the personal notes” by
Weinberger of the Jan. 7,1986 meet
ing, Muskie’s statement added.
Scowcroft has steadfastly defended
his boss in recent days. He character
ized as “political” Walsh’s decision
to include information about Bush in
the new indictment of Weinberger.
“They arc rehashing the same old
stuff, there is no new information,”
said Scowcroft.
For the first lime, Bush was asked
Sunday whether he would fire Walsh,
whose $32 million probe began in
December 1986.
“I am not going to discuss what I’ll
do about that,’’Bush replied in an in
tcrvicwonCNN. Bul“I think il’sbccn
a big witch hunt out there when you
sec a decent man like Cap Weinberger
going through all kinds of hell.”
Mary Belcher, a spokeswoman for
Walsh s office, said she could not
respond to the accusation because the
Weinberger case is pending.
Weinberger faces trial Jan. 5.
Federal law says Walsh may be
removed “only by the personal action
of the attorney general and only for
good cause.”Good cause isdefined as
an act that “substantially impairs” the
performance of his duties. T
Nebraskan
—-- Editor Chrl* Hoplen*perger
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