Dole Charges That Clinton’s Policies Have Failed California

Probable Republican presidential nominee Bob Dole kicked off a three-day swing through the Golden State on Monday by vowing to expose what he called President Clinton’s “war on California.” He said nearly four years of abuse and neglect began with the closure of military bases and continues with the veto of welfare reform.

Launching a full-frontal assault in a state that Clinton has assiduously courted--the president campaigned here just last week, his 24th visit since taking office--Dole argued that the administration has failed Californians in a range of areas, including the defense industry, agriculture and illegal immigration.

The former Kansas senator charged that Clinton helped cripple the state’s aerospace industry by cutting the defense budget too deeply and turning his back on a missile defense system that Dole unsuccessfully promoted in Congress.

“This administration’s hostility is like a stinger missile aimed right at the heart of California,” he said. “It’s cost at least 130,000 jobs directly related to the defense industry, and thousands and thousands more are at risk.”

Speaking here to a cheering crowd of more than 300 supporters that was interspersed with nearly 100 demonstrators supporting the president, Dole said: “Clinton’s policies add up to nothing less than a war on California. And this war on California has hurt families and businesses from San Diego to the Oregon border. In my administration, this will end.”

Dole steered clear of the controversial anti-affirmative action initiative that will appear on the California ballot in November, a measure some GOP strategists contend can help carry him to victory in the state but that the candidate has ignored of late. Dole made no mention of the initiative at the Walnut Creek rally and, in an interview on his campaign plane en route to California, he said the issue was not high on his agenda for the first part of his California visit, which ends Wednesday in Newport Beach.

But he noted that there is ample time for the issue to arise, adding, “We’re not backing away from it. Support it.”

As Dole focused his fire on Clinton, Vice President Al Gore returned the favor on the other side of the continent Monday with a scathing attack that accused the Republican of engaging in the “politics of Pinocchio.”

Gore’s speech, delivered in Philadelphia, was sparked by recent comments by Dole that objected to government regulation of tobacco as a drug. Dole said cigarettes are not necessarily addictive and compared the health hazards of smoking to those caused by drinking milk.

The Clinton campaign has charged that Dole’s comments were influenced by tobacco industry contributions he has received over the years, and Gore continued that line of attack. “About the only people who don’t believe nicotine is addictive or that smoking causes lung cancer are politicians who are addicted to tobacco money,” Gore said.

Addressing himself to Dole, Gore added: “Kick the habit. . . . It’s not worth stinking up your reputation with the smoky stench of special interest politics and the dangerous din of dishonesty.”

Gore also charged that the Dole campaign, in attempting to justify the candidate’s recent comments, had misstated the vice president’s position on the connection between tobacco and lung cancer.

Gore took particular umbrage at this because his sister, who he said “started smoking when she was 13 and could not quit,” died of lung cancer at age 46 in 1984. “To suggest that I’m not convinced of tobacco’s deadly power is an outrage.”

Interviewed in Sacramento Monday evening, Dole issued Gore an apology. “If that’s the case, that’s a mistake. I certainly apologize for that. I didn’t make that statement,” he said.

Earlier, when first asked to respond to Gore’s speech. Dole took a quizzical approach. Although he broached the tobacco-related issues in Kentucky on Thursday and discussed it again over the weekend, he said, “I haven’t talked about tobacco. I don’t know what [Gore] is talking about.”

Dole then switched to Clinton, asserting that last year the president “started talking about tobacco. Why doesn’t he talk about legalizing marijuana, which Joycelyn Elders wanted to do.”

Dole went on to mistakenly describe Elders as Clinton’s pick for the position of drug czar; Elders actually served as surgeon general.

Protesters awaiting the Dole campaign plane when it landed in Oakland for the start of his California visit had taken note of the smoking issue. They held signs saying, “Go Home, Tobacco Bob.” And at the Walnut Creek rally, someone in a cigarette costume strolled through the crowd.

Dole’s trip here is his second in the last three weeks, providing further evidence that unlike then-President George Bush in 1992, he does not intend to cede California to the Democrats even as he lags in statewide polls.

In his interview with reporters en route to the state, Dole reiterated that he intends to fight hard for the state. He noted that his wife campaigned here recently and added, “Big, big, 54 [electoral] votes. Having our convention there. A lot of time out there.”

And Dole’s top California strategist quoted college football coach Woody Hayes in describing the candidate’s California strategy as “three yards and a cloud of dust.”

The strategist, Kenneth L. Khachigian, said Dole was embarked on “a slow process of gaining back ground” in the state. “A Republican can win the presidency without winning California,” Khachigian said. “But you can’t win the presidency without contesting California.”

Dole’s challenge, Khachigian added, is to “make clear that the state’s important to him,” and “draw distinctions between himself and Clinton.”

To that end, Dole at the Walnut Creek rally excoriated Clinton for a variety of alleged political sins. In a reference to two celebrity-studded fund-raisers that were part of Clinton’s California itinerary last week, Dole said, “We know he’s a friend of Hollywood, but how about everybody else in the state of California?”