Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, October 4, 1994 TAG: 9410050056
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MARGARET EDDS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: MCLEAN LENGTH: Long
President Clinton on Monday gave an impassioned defense of his first 20 months in office and urged Democrats to ``stand up and fight'' for the re- election of U.S. Sen. Charles Robb.
Speaking at a fund-raiser on the third anniversary of his announcement for the presidency, Clinton sounded as if he - not Robb - were facing re-election Nov. 8. Clinton offered a litany of accomplishments and denounced the ability of Republicans to ``demonize their opponents ... turn their opponents into aliens.''
Never mentioning Oliver North by name, Clinton urged an estimated 500 cheering partisans at the McLean Hilton Hotel to ``fight against what has been the brilliant strength of Republicans, particularly Republicans on the right ...
``They are better talkers than we are, and they raise more money than we do to turn their opponents into aliens,'' Clinton said. ``They do that by exalting fear over hope, by exalting blame over responsibility, by exalting division over unity.
``That is what they do, and they do it brilliantly.''
Clinton's two appearances, at the $35-per-head rally and at a later $1,000-per-ticket dinner, were expected to raise about $500,000 for the final stretch of a campaign in which Robb is trailing North slightly in recent published polls.
Robb's decision to bring Clinton into the state on his behalf is viewed as extremely risky at a time when the president's popularity ratings are sagging nationally and are even lower in Virginia. No other Southern senator has brought Clinton into his state for a campaign appearance.
Clinton rewarded Robb's confidence by urging Virginians to say, ``I am sick and tired of this demonization'' of Robb by the North campaign. ``I am sick and tired of this distortion of a good man's record and a good man's life.''
As the crowd chanted in unison, Clinton reminded them of a rule he said ``the other side sometimes forgets in their litany of values: Thou shall not bear false witness.''
The president praised Robb, a friend since they were Southern governors together in the 1980s, as part of a ``mainstream, progressive bipartisan, common-sense effort to move this country forward.'' Robb and Clinton were allies throughout the 1980s in trying to move the Democratic Party in a more centrist direction.
Introducing Clinton, Robb joked, ``You've been in more of Ollie North's ads than I have.''
Clinton seemed to recognize that fact as he defended his record in Virginia and nationally.
He said that 330,000 Virginians are eligible for tax cuts as a result of his legislative program, and 600,000 are eligible for lower-interest college loans.
Among his achievements, he said, are passage of the largest deficit-reduction package in history - one expected to reduce the deficit for three years in a row for the first time since the Truman presidency; the creation of 3.4 million new jobs; a reduction in taxes for 15 million working people; and a trimming of the government work force that in five years will make the employment level the lowest since 1960.
``We have made a good start in 20 months on 30 years of social problems, 20 years of economic problems and 12 years of neglect.''
But, Clinton said, most people are not aware of what he has done. Citing a series of votes on deficit reduction, the crime bill and health care in which he received almost no Republican support, he added, ``While we have been working, they have been talking, blaming, dividing, turning us into aliens.''
The Republican agenda, he claimed, is ``trickle-down economics, more inequality, more division.''
The crowd at the rally, which did not quite pack the Hilton Hotel ballroom, was fairly subdued as the evening began but turned raucous as Robb, his wife and children and about two dozen Northern Virginia officeholders climbed onto a small stage.
Robb joined the crowd in clapping and chanting: ``We want Bill!''
Oliver North, who was attending a fund-raiser in McLean on Monday night for all Republican challengers in Virginia, said Clinton's appearance ``just shows how desperate'' Robb is.
``Chuck Robb gives Bill Clinton his votes; Bill Clinton gives Chuck Robb money. It's a classic cynical Washington payback,'' North said.
Clinton's approval rating is hovering at 40 percent nationally. The Virginia figure is even lower - 36 percent, according to a poll last month by Mason-Dixon Political/Media Research Inc.
None of Virginia's seven Democratic congressmen, including two from Northern Virginia, showed up for the first event. Rep. James Moran of Fairfax and Rep. Bobby Scott of Newport News attended the second one.
The closest Clinton came to a reference to North was later at the dinner, when the president defended Robb's military background, which the Republican belittled last week.
"I am proud of what [Robb] did in the Marine Corps and in the war, and I can't believe anyone would ever question it," Clinton said.
Keywords:
POLITICS
by CNB