Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, August 31, 1994 TAG: 9409010017
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-12 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By JOHN KING ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
Clinton's political troubles and worries within the Democratic ranks have spawned persistent speculation that he might be challenged. Last week, two-time Democratic candidate Jesse Jackson said he is considering a primary challenge or even an independent candidacy.
``One of the ways to get the attention of this administration and the country is to challenge the direction and priorities of the leadership,'' Jackson said Friday.
Beyond Jackson, the rumors - and there is little evidence they are anything more - center most often on Democratic Sen. Bob Kerrey of Nebraska, who lost to Clinton in the 1992 primaries and has had a stormy relationship with him since.
``Certainly, the Kerrey talk is everywhere,'' said former Sen. Paul Tsongas of Massachusetts, another 1992 Clinton primary rival. For the record, Tsongas is happy to say, unequivocally, that ``I would not run in '96.''
So is Sen. Tom Harkin of Iowa, another of the 1992 Democratic candidates. His name recently surfaced in rumors that a Democratic senator was planning to challenge Clinton. Hogwash, says Harkin.
Kerrey, however, isn't so emphatic.
``There is unquestionably a break - we are not close,'' Kerrey says of his relationship with Clinton. ``But the speculation that I am going to challenge him in the primaries is completely untrue.''
So then he absolutely, positively, won't run?
``I can't imagine the circumstances,'' Kerrey said. ``I really can't. But I have learned never to say never.''
According to one Democratic activist, a party fund-raiser disgruntled with Clinton recently approached Tsongas to see if he was interested in a 1996 challenge. According to the activist, who spoke on condition of anonymity, the fund-raiser, Chicago commodities broker Richard Dennis, said Kerrey was his second choice.
Asked if the account was accurate, Tsongas hesitated and said, ``I would not recall one conversation from another.''
Dennis gave $1,000 to Kerrey's 1992 presidential campaign and later gave Clinton $1,000 after Kerrey dropped out. He also contributed more than $200,000 to the Democratic National Committee for the 1992 election cycle. But he is said to be unhappy with Clinton and has not made any major contributions to the party this year; he has given $1,000 to Kerrey's 1994 Senate re-election bid.
Dennis did not return telephone calls seeking comment, and Kerrey says 1996 has never come up in his conversations with Dennis.
As the Kerrey and Harkin rumors have made the rounds, Democratic Party officials have kept quiet. But Jackson's harsh public criticism of Clinton last week brought a reminder of the toll of challenges past.
The last time a sitting president faced a primary fight was 1992, when Patrick Buchanan scored 37 percent against President Bush in the New Hampshire primary. Buchanan never matched that in subsequent primaries, but his showing revealed Bush's weaknesses.
And for Democrats, the memory of 1980 lingers. Then, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts tried to wrest the nomination from President Carter, who survived the challenge but was crushed by Ronald Reagan in the fall.
``In 1980, when there was similar turbulence within the party, some of us, including myself, became involved in an attempt to unseat a Democratic president, and we thereby handed the presidency to the Republicans for 12 years,'' said veteran party organizer Donald Sweitzer, who worked for Kennedy's campaign.
``We should not do it again,'' said Sweitzer, now the Democratic National Committee's political director. ``This is a president who is attempting against great odds to pass legislation and do all the things that we as a party want done. The last thing we need is fratricide.''
Keywords:
POLITICS
by CNB