ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, October 29, 1996 TAG: 9610290081
SECTION: NATL/INTL PAGE: A-3 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: SAN DIEGO
SOURCE: Associated Press
Bob Dole criticized affirmative action programs Monday as ``a blind alley in the search for equal justice.''
In renewing his support for a California proposition opposing race- and sex-based preferences, Dole offered a broad indictment of affirmative action programs.
``We cannot fight the evil of discrimination with more discrimination,'' Dole said in his longest explanation yet of his switch on the subject. Until the presidential campaign, Dole had supported affirmative action programs.
``I changed my position. You have the right to do that,'' Dole said, adding: ``Not every day, as the White House does.''
Dole has been on record in support of Proposition 209, which would end racial and sexual preferences in state hiring and education, but he has not spoken out forcefully on it until recently.
Dole trails Clinton by double-digit margins in polls in most regions of the country.
House Republicans released a TV ad telling voters that electing a Democratic Congress would amount to a ``blank check'' for Clinton.
Republican National Committee Chairman Haley Barbour said the TV spots ``remind people of why they are against Clinton. They talk about what Clinton was like when he had a Democratic Congress.''
Many Republicans have been talking as if a Dole loss were inevitable. For his part, Dole told reporters, ``I haven't heard any of them.''
``We're going to be working every day,'' he said. He added that his campaign's internal polls show that Clinton's lead in California down to single digits. ``Looking good. Got new numbers today in our surveys. It can be done.''
With that, Dole extended his California campaign swing for a fourth day. Late Monday he was going to Newport Beach to film the last of his campaign ads.
LENGTH: Short : 45 lines KEYWORDS: POLITICS PRESIDENTby CNB