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                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, February 19, 1993                   TAG: 9302190197
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium

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CLINTON ON SALES TRIP

President Clinton led his administration on a nationwide blitz Thursday to enlist citizen support for a pain-then-gain economic plan he said would keep America's children from having to settle for a "lesser life."

In a campaign-style rally at St. Louis' Union Station, the opening shot in his drive to win America to his side, Clinton said he was "tired of all the naysayers."

"The price of doing the same thing is higher than the price of change," he declared.

Henry Cisneros, Clinton's housing secretary, carried the pitch to Flint, Mich., still reeling from a big General Motors plant closing in 1987. "Taxes - even the word is difficult to express," Cisneros said. "I get dry in the mouth, but it's imperative."

Republicans, meanwhile, accused Clinton of mounting a propaganda blitz to sell old tax-and-spend solutions disguised in new clothing, and pledged a fight. Senate GOP Leader Bob Dole called Clinton's plan "very heavy on the tax side and very weak" on reducing spending.

Former President Reagan said it resurrected "the failed liberal policies of the past." In The New York Times, Reagan said Clinton "has begun to sound like an `old Democrat,' " not the "new Democrat" he campaigned as.

Ross Perot, whose cut-the-deficit campaign won him 19 million votes in November, offered cautious praise. He called the program "a good artist's sketch." He also foresaw fierce opposition.

"In the next 90 days, lobbyists are going to collect more money than probably in the history of man, because that's the way the system works," Perot said.

Administration officials fanned across the country, scheduling appearances Thursday and today in 28 states. House GOP Leader Bob Michel of Illinois called it "the biggest propaganda campaign in recent political history."

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