Clintons Link GOP to Special Interests : Campaign: President and First Lady go on attack at rallies. They accuse Republicans of blocking lobbyist reform, then seeking their money.

President Clinton and First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton turned a Saturday campaign blitz into a family affair, delivering a one-two punch in which they accused Republicans of blocking reforms to curry favor with special interests.

As the tone of the fall campaign sharpens, Clinton said Republican congressional leaders had pledged to lobbyists: “We killed campaign finance reform for you. We killed lobby reform for you. We share your values. So you give us money and don’t you give the Democrats money, or else.”

Clinton told an enthusiastic airport rally that Republicans, if they take over Congress, “are going to gang up with the Washington lobbyists whose values they share and run this country any way they please.”

It was Clinton’s first direct swipe at a controversial meeting that House Minority Whip Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) and other GOP congressional leaders held last week with lobbyists, GOP activists and corporate officials.

According to a memo by a participant at the meeting, obtained by the Associated Press, Gingrich said they should promote giving to GOP candidates to “get even with the Clinton tax increase” and because the party would save them money through favorable legislation if it takes over Congress.

Gingrich said lobbyists should give to Republicans out of gratitude that the party had killed a bill that would have required them to register and report their activities more fully.

The Democrats are trying to turn the Republicans’ “contract with America” platform against them by tarring it as a return to the huge deficits and trickle-down economics of the 1980s.

Hillary Clinton echoed the theme, saying the elections would determine: “Do we keep going forward, do we keep solving problems or do we stop and go backward?”

Clinton also predicted Republicans would “give you the politics of the enemies lists of the 1970s,” alluding to a Gingrich proposal to establish a special committee to probe corruption in the Clinton Administration.

The Clintons’ stop in Connecticut included two fund-raisers expected to raise $300,000 for the gubernatorial campaign of Democrat William Curry Jr., who is trailing Republican John G. Rowland.

A Time magazine-CNN poll released Saturday showed why some Democratic candidates would rather steer clear of Clinton. Only 44% of respondents said they approve of the way Clinton is handling his job, while 47% said they disapprove.

However, that indicated a slight improvement from Sept. 21-22, when the same poll put Clinton’s disapproval rating at 53%.