Election 2000 briefs

By Compiled from Times wires

© St. Petersburg Times, published August 12, 2000

Gore seeks support of women voters in Pa.

BRIDGEPORT, Pa. -- Al Gore and Joseph Lieberman pitched their tax-cut plan -- in dollars-and-cents, us-versus-them terms -- to women voters whose sagging support in polls worries the Democratic presidential ticket.

On a Friday devoted to women and union workers, Gore threaded his message with references to the performance record he shares with President Clinton.

"I'm not asking for support on the basis of past performance. I'm asking for your support on the basis of the better, fairer America we can build in the future," Gore told working women and their children at the Little Souls doll factory.

Women voters gave a decisive boost to Clinton's 1996 re-election, but polls show they aren't giving Gore much of a lift. The Gore campaign hoped an endorsement Friday by the Business and Professional Women USA would help.

From Philadelphia, Gore detoured through Detroit where he accepted the United Auto Workers' endorsement after the union's months-long holdout over his free-trade advocacy.

Bush calls on Gore to denounce Clinton

PORTLAND, Ore. -- Gov. George W. Bush called on Vice President Al Gore on Friday to emphatically state his disapproval of President Clinton's sexual conduct in office and to send Americans a clear message that he would maintain a high level of integrity if elected to the presidency.

Bush, who has pledged "to restore honor and dignity" to the White House, conceded that Gore could accomplish the same task.

"You're either part of an administration, or you're not part of an administration," Bush told reporters aboard his campaign plane Friday. "If Al Gore has differences with the president he ought to say loud and clear what they are."

Meanwhile, in Holland, Mich., Bush's running mate Dick Cheney said that Gore shouldn't be held accountable for Clinton's personal failings but that Americans should reject him because his administration would be just like Clinton's.

"Responsible for Clinton's personal mistakes? No, I don't think so," Cheney said. But, "a Gore administration would be a continuation of the last eight years," under Clinton, he said.

Fundraiser moved from Playboy Mansion

GARDEN GROVE, Calif. -- Bowing to pressure from party leaders, Rep. Loretta Sanchez agreed Friday to move a Democratic National Convention-week fundraiser from the Playboy Mansion to a less controversial location

In exchange, party officials restored the California lawmaker's speaking slot at the convention, which opens Monday.

The fundraising flap caused controversy in advance of the party convention at a time when Al Gore was hoping to stress the issue of moral values.

"To continue to dwell on where our event is held, and whether my role as a DNC officer conflicts with my role at a party for a good cause, frankly makes no sense," Sanchez said. "The only real party I am interested in is a party that represents real people, with real needs. That party is the Democratic Party."

The fundraiser will be held at Universal Studios.

Gore edges closer in pre-convention polls

LOS ANGELES -- Al Gore has edged closer to Republican George W. Bush in polls just before the Democratic National Convention, but he still has substantial ground to make up.

Gore is now trailing by 10 points in a CBS News poll of registered voters, 52 percent to 42 percent, compared with 15 points at the end of the Republican convention.

Gore is now behind by 9 points in an ABC News poll, 52 percent to 43 percent, compared with a 14-point deficit at the end of the GOP gathering.

He trails by 14 points in a Time-CNN poll of likely voters, 53 percent to 39 percent, about the same margin as a CNN-Time poll taken just before the Republican convention.

N.Y. SENATE RACE: Hillary Rodham Clinton's assertion that she played a quiet but major role in several policy and legislative efforts by the Clinton administration cannot be trusted and stems from a bid to "reinvent" herself, Rep. Rick Lazio said Friday.

"My sense is this is just another attempt to reinvent Hillary Clinton, and that is why the people of New York have such a problem with credibility when it comes to the Clinton campaign," Lazio said. "She either was not forthcoming when she said she had nothing to do with these things all these years, or she is communicating a very different approach to things now."

FARRAKHAN QUESTIONS LIEBERMAN: Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan questioned the national loyalty of Democratic vice presidential candidate Joseph Lieberman, asking if his Jewish religion would make him more faithful to Israel or the United States. "Mr. Lieberman, as an Orthodox Jew, is also a dual citizen of Israel," Farrakhan asserted incorrectly. "The state of Israel is not synonymous with the United States, and the test he would probably have to pass is: Would he be more faithful to the Constitution of the United States than to the ties that any Jewish person would have to the state of Israel?"

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