Panel to Explore Clinton Presidential Bid

Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton, a favorite of Democratic moderates, announced Thursday that he will establish a committee to formally explore a bid for the party’s presidential nomination.

At a Little Rock press conference, Clinton, 44, cautioned that he “definitely (has) not made the decision to enter the race.”

But, he added in a news release that “forming an exploratory committee will give me a means to look into this in a lot more detail and get the kind of information I need to consider right now.”

Clinton, who edged to the brink of running in 1988 before backing away, said he would announce his final decision by the end of September.

Over the last several months, Clinton has traveled widely in his capacity as chairman of the Democratic Leadership Council, an organization of party centrists, testing a message that calls on Democrats to forge new means for meeting their traditional goals. At the press conference, Clinton announced that he was resigning from the leadership council position--which has brought him into occasionally bruising conflict with some of the party’s leading liberals--to focus on examining the presidential contest.

In declaring his intention to form the exploratory committee, Clinton joined just three other Democrats who have taken legal steps toward running: Virginia Gov. L. Douglas Wilder and Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin, who have established committees to investigate the race, and former Massachusetts Sen. Paul E. Tsongas, who announced his candidacy in April. Other Democrats circling the slow-starting contest include former California Gov. Edmund G. (Jerry) Brown Jr. and Tennessee Sen. Albert Gore Jr.

In addition, speculation continues to follow New York Gov. Mario M. Cuomo, who insists he has no plans to enter the race. The Rev. Jesse Jackson, a two-time candidate, is thought to be leaning against a third bid in favor of being the host of a talk show on CNN.

Some Democrats believe that Clinton’s announcement could particularly increase pressure for a final decision by Gore, who would compete for much of the same electoral and financial base in the party center. “We’ve staked our flag,” one Clinton adviser said. “We’ve said we’re moving.”

Sources close to Clinton said that he must still cross both practical and political hurdles before reaching a final commitment to run. Much of the exploratory committee’s efforts will be focused on determining whether a governor from a small, poor state can raise the money and build the organization required to mount a credible national campaign in the six months remaining before the first contest, in Iowa, aides said.

“The question is: ‘If we build it, will they come?’ ” said one close adviser.

In addition, Clinton has repeatedly said that he would not run unless he felt Arkansas voters had released him from a promise he made during last fall’s reelection campaign to serve out his full four-year term as governor.

“The most important issues still to be resolved in my own mind are those affecting our state: how the state will run . . . and whether the people really have . . . decided that I should do this,” Clinton told reporters Thursday.

If that’s the case, Clinton may have some convincing to do: One June survey of Arkansas voters found just 21% believed he should challenge President Bush, while 71% preferred that he not run. Clinton said Thursday that he was not planning any polls of his own but instead would travel the state, talking to voters one-on-one in what he called “kind of a family consultation.”