Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, March 16, 1992 TAG: 9203160073
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: From The Associated Press and the Los Angeles Times
DATELINE: CHICAGO LENGTH: Medium
"You ought to be ashamed for jumping on my wife," Clinton said to Jerry Brown after the former California governor leveled charges of improper behavior. "You're not worth being on the same platform with my wife."
Paul Tsongas was not involved in that exchange, but he jumped in to accuse Clinton of distributing false and misleading campaign literature in Illinois, which holds one of two primaries this week, as well as last week in Florida.
It was easily the most acid few minutes of the many debates staged for Democratic presidential contenders beginning late last year, and came as the polls said Clinton was poised for victories in Illinois and Michigan on Tuesday that could put him out of his rivals' reach in the race for the nomination.
And it continued after the debate ended. "There's a scandal a week here," Brown said of Clinton, while Tsongas said Clinton's involvement in an investment with a man who became owner of a savings and loan was "inexcusable."
"You can't be everything to everybody," Tsongas said in renewing his criticism that Clinton was putting popularity over prosperity and promising programs to help everyone.
Tsongas also said anew that he would not be interested in sharing the ticket with Clinton because of economic differences.
The Democratic sparring overshadowed the GOP contests.
In Bay City, Mich., Republican candidate Patrick Buchanan warned that - unless he wins the 1992 nomination or President Bush embraces his brand of conservatism - a new third-party composed of angry and disenchanted Republicans is likely to be formed before the 1996 presidential elections.
Buchanan repeated his pledge to support the party's nominee this fall, but he refused to rule out his participation in a rival party in 1996.
President Bush - miles ahead in the delegate count and virtually certain to win in Illinois and Michigan - was at Camp David, Md.
The clash among the Democrats came near the end of a 60-minute debate in which the three men repeated their criticisms over Bush's handling of the Persian Gulf War and its aftermath, and repeated their differences over reviving the economy.
The fireworks began when Tsongas and Brown were asked whether they believed Clinton could win the presidency, an unspoken reference to allegations of marital infidelity and not having served in the military in the Vietnam War.
Tsongas, who has questioned Clinton's character and judgment previously, said he would support whoever becomes the nominee.
But Brown said Clinton has a "big electability problem." He cited a Washington Post article he said reports that as Arkansas governor, Clinton is "funneling money to his wife's law firm" for state business and the firm has been representing clients before state agencies.
Among them, Brown said, was a poultry firm that is accused of polluting the state's waterways.
The Post story focused on the law firm of which Hillary Clinton is a partner and the work it did for the state of Arkansas. It did not say the governor funneled money or state business to the firm.
Bill Clinton said his wife has refused her share in any income the firm gets from the state and said he "never, never" funneled business or money to the firm.
Clinton responded icily. "I feel sorry for Jerry Brown," Clinton said, adding Brown "reinvents himself every year or two," once fought for the type of special-interest money he now crusades against, and can't be taken seriously.
Clinton then returned Tsongas' fire, saying the former Massachusetts senator had run the campaign's only "stomp-down false" advertisement, in which he claimed Clinton's proposed middle-class tax cut would raise the deficit.
Keywords:
POLITICS
by CNB