Clinton Courts Democrats Who Have Strayed

Democrat Bill Clinton Sunday made a strong pitch to woo wayward Democrats who have voted Republican in recent years, delivering a spirited attack on President Bush’s economic record.

“It doesn’t work,” Clinton said of Bush’s economic program. “It’s time to scrap it.”

At a midafternoon outdoor rally at Macomb County Community College, the Democratic presidential nominee said, referring to the Ronald Reagan Administration as well: “We’ve tried their way for 12 years. It does not work. It’s time for a change.”

In a state with high unemployment--about 10%--and deep concern about the North American Free Trade Agreement, Clinton told the rally that he favors free trade, but not at the expense of fair trade or environmental degradation. ‘I’ll be for free and fair trade, he said.”

Clinton also slammed Bush for refusing to participate in the general election campaign’s first scheduled debate, which was to have been held Tuesday night in East Lansing, Mich., accusing the President of trying to hide from a debate about his record.

In keeping with Sunday’s focus on the economy, his campaign also released two new 30-second television ads on the topic.

One ad constitutes a direct attack on Bush’s economic record, although Clinton portrayed it as merely a contrast between economic realities and Bush’s own words over the last four years.

The ad begins by showing Bush promising during his 1988 acceptance speech at the Republican convention to create “30 million jobs in the next eight years.” Then the ad cuts to a screen showing the words: “1990, America’s jobless rate hits a three-year high.”

In another vignette, Bush is shown on July 2 of this year saying: “The economy continues to grow.” The next screen has the words and this voice-over: “July 1992--unemployment is the highest in eight years.”

The ad ends: “If George Bush doesn’t understand the problem, how can he solve it? We can’t afford four more years.”

Clinton denied the ad constitutes negative advertising.

“I think the American people are entitled to know what he said all along,” Clinton told reporters as he left Little Rock, Ark., Sunday morning.

The ad, the Arkansas governor said, “is what this election is all about. The election is about their record.

“I wanted to contrast my plan, which is consistent with what I’ve been talking about for years and years and years, with the statements and the record of the Bush Administration,” he said.

The second ad shows Clinton criticizing “trickle-down economics” and then promising to “give (businesses) incentives to invest in new jobs” and to “spend more on education and training.”

Clinton’s communications director, George Stephanopoulos, said that both ads would begin airing Sunday night in “10 to 20 states” around the country. He did not specify them.