Clinton’s California Tailoring : Campaign: The presidential hopeful weaves in some local issues as he strives to put his best face forward in state long on the primary sidelines.

Like a suitor whose courting was long-expected, Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton went about the business of introducing himself Saturday. He talked graciously about his roots and his dreams. He snipped, politely, at President Bush. And he tailored his message, ever so slightly, to recession-weary and riot-jolted Southern California.

Before several hundred supporters in an open-air amphitheater in El Cajon and a nonpartisan business group in Universal City, Clinton took on a “glad to meet you” tone that was mindful of the fact that most Californians have been on the outside looking in during his roller-coaster presidential campaign.

As he kicked off his California primary campaign, Clinton repeatedly portrayed himself as someone willing to thread between traditional Republican and Democratic approaches to solve the nation’s festering problems.

“We need to go beyond what I call the brain-dead politics of both parties in Washington to recognize that (political) gridlock is killing this country,” said Clinton, who has used that theme throughout his monthslong campaign. “The President gave a speech in Los Angeles just the other day in which he advocated some of the things I’ve been advocating for years--but nothing ever gets done.

“You just can’t wait for a riot; you have to fight for these things day in and day out.”

The fabric of Clinton’s message was not new, even if the threads were slightly rearranged. His goal was to greet California, the most crucial state in November’s presidential election, with a face markedly different from the scandal-scarred visage that he has presented much of this year.

In doing so, Clinton turned his attention to subjects close to the hearts of California voters--like the defense cutbacks that will put thousands of local workers out of their jobs.

“What we’re doing in defense cuts is a disaster,” Clinton told members of the Valley Industry and Commerce Assn. in Universal City. “Not because we don’t need to cut defense, but because we’re doing it without a conversion strategy.

“We have scientists, we have engineers, we have technicians, we have factory workers, we have servicewomen and men, all of whom are just going to be displaced.”

Clinton also framed his trade position in terms of its effect on illegal immigration from Mexico, a departure from his usual rendition, but a topic of interest to Californians. He said that a free-trade agreement with Mexico should require the Mexican government to raise labor and environmental standards.

“If the Mexicans get richer, they can buy more of our products, and fewer of them will come into our country as illegal aliens,” he told supporters gathered outside El Cajon City Hall. “They will be able to have opportunities in their own country.”

With his eyes firmly on the general election, Clinton did not mention former California Gov. Edmund G. (Jerry) Brown Jr., who is leading Clinton in the most recent Los Angeles Times Poll of state Democrats by a 51%-37% margin.

He did, however, attempt to contrast his experiences with President Bush, who he implied was out of touch with the realities faced by everyday Americans and unconcerned about bridging that gap.

“One big difference between me and Mr. Bush is the way we have lived for the last 11 years,” he said in El Cajon. “He was vice president and then he was in the foreign policy Establishment or political Establishment of the Republican Party.

“I have been a governor who has lived with people on a very personal basis. When people lost their jobs or their businesses or their farms, there’s a good chance I’ll know ‘em by their names.”

As he has for several days, Clinton also emphasized a rebuilding of the riot-scarred areas of Los Angeles and a national commitment to improving the lot of the nation’s most needy citizens.

“We have got to bring enterprise to these areas and give people a piece of the rock if you want to have any hope of giving a sense of progress and momentum,” he said in Universal City.

Clinton, who also trails Bush and possible independent candidate Ross Perot in California polls, plans to spend much of his time between now and June 2 in the state, which has 54 electoral votes, one-fifth of the number needed to win the presidency.

Aides said Clinton will spend 10 days in California between now and the primary. Today he will visit two churches and meet with Latino leaders in San Francisco. On Saturday night, before flying to San Francisco, Clinton met privately with campaign aides in Brentwood and attended a closed dinner in Pasadena.

His trailing position in the polls notwithstanding, Clinton said Saturday that he is optimistic about his chances of becoming the first Democratic nominee in 28 years to win the state.

“I’ll have to reverse history, but I’m not like the previous Democratic nominees, and the more people know about who I really am, the better I’ll do.

“I believe people in the West want a pro-growth Democrat who cares about pulling people together,” he said. “I don’t think they care about party so much as restoring the country’s economic leadership and getting this country together again.”

Clinton acknowledged that he has yet to make his presence felt in California, where polls have shown that most voters are skeptical about him.

Where The Candidates Stand On

URBAN POLICY

Today, The Times begins a daily look at the views on key issues of the major Republican and Democratic presidential candidates who appear on the June 2 California primary ballot.

Background: In the aftermath of the Los Angeles riots, the debate over rebuilding the nation’s struggling cities has moved to the forefront of the presidential campaign. Twenty-five years after the last widespread eruption of racial unrest, the nation now confronts old problems within new constraints: a huge federal budget deficit and a sluggish economy that makes the challenge even more daunting than in the 1960s.

President Bush has proposed a “conservative empowerment agenda.” Key elements include: enterprise zones that would offer tax breaks to companies that locate in depressed inner-city neighborhoods; grants that would help tenants in public housing buy their apartments; and choice plans that would allow parents to send their children to public or private schools. He has also encouraged states to experiment with reforms that attempt to discourage welfare recipients from having additional children while on relief.

Patrick J. Buchanan has spoken little about urban problems. He has forcefully argued that the Los Angeles riots do not indicate the need for new domestic spending initiatives, and instead underline the priority that must be placed on law enforcement.

Bill Clinton has called for the creation of both enterprise zones and a nationwide network of community development banks to attract investment into inner-cities; annual inflation-adjustments in the minimum wage and an increase in a special low-income tax credit to bolster the working poor; as well as increased spending on training for welfare recipients, coupled with a requirement that they take a job after two years on the rolls. Has also urged increases in government spending on infrastructure, housing, job training and education, but also stressed the need to reinvigorate cultural values in poverty-wracked neighborhoods.

Edmund G. (Jerry) Brown Jr. has described the Los Angeles riot as the inevitable result of minority poverty, and said the government should launch a $30-billion effort to revitalize the nation’s cities. He has proposed to convert welfare payments into a voucher that recipients could use to supplement pay in private employment, called on public pension funds to increase their investments in cities, and urged the creation of enterprise zones and a new Civilian Conservation Corps for unemployed young people.

Source: Census Bureau