Dole Pays Tribute to Italian Immigrants

In a safe celebration of American immigrants--and a rare campaign walk down an urban street--Republican presidential nominee Bob Dole marched in a Columbus Day parade here Sunday and told a chilly crowd of his pride in the values brought to this country by its new citizens.

Dole lauded the “generations of Italian families [who] have come to America to live out their dreams,” while he ignored the immigration issue’s more controversial sides, like his own stand in favor of denying public education to the children of illegal immigrants.

“They have strengthened America with their values, values like faith in God and love of family . . . and honesty and decency and responsibility,” he told a crowd that had greeted him moments earlier with boos. “Now, some may call those values old-fashioned. But these are the values that helped make America what it is today.”

Escorted through the Garden State by Gov. Christine Todd Whitman, Dole emphasized economic themes at small, but sympathetic, rallies where he also took President Clinton to task for what he said were broken crime-cutting promises.

Clinton “says he’s got 100,000 police on the street. You won’t live long enough to see 100,000 police,” Dole told crowds in Somerset and Hamilton, suburban Republican sections of a swing state where Dole trails in the polls. “It ain’t gonna happen.”

Clinton traveled Sunday from Denver to Albuquerque, touting the administration’s record on fighting crime and spotlighting new FBI statistics showing that crime fell in 1995.

In addition, the president signed a bill to increase penalties for the use of Rohypnol, sometimes known as the “date rape drug,” in the commission of a violent crime.

In Albuquerque, Clinton plans three days of mock debates, golf and rest before taking on Dole in the second and final presidential debate Wednesday in San Diego.

Dole’s brief campaign trip to ethnically diverse and Democratic Newark exemplifies the way his campaign has lately treated regions that are not Republican strongholds.

Last week, Dole practiced a similar form of pop-in politics when he ordered home fries and chatted up customers in a quick stop at the Monroe Street Diner in heavily Democratic Toledo, Ohio. Later that day, he spent hours at rallies in politically safer parts of Ohio, working at this late date to “solidify our base.”

Dole had supporters in Newark. Bruce Mindszenty, 47, of Elmwood Park, came to wave a “Trust Dole” sign and see the man he believes will give average workers a tax cut.

And he said he firmly hopes that Dole will toughen up and take on Clinton on the volatile issue of character. “He better start attacking, or he’s not gonna be president.”

But the parade route in Newark also bristled with blue balloons and signs supporting Clinton and Rep. Robert G. Torricelli, the Democrat vying for the Senate seat being vacated by Democrat Bill Bradley.

Richard Diaz gripped one such sign as he waited with his wife, Sandra, and two young daughters for the parade to begin.

The last four years, said the 30-year-old native of Uruguay, “have been beautiful for me. I am an immigrant. I come here from my country when Mr. Bush was in. When Clinton came in, everything changed for me. It’s better . . . [Dole] don’t have consideration for those people who don’t have a job or money.”

But at an afternoon rally in affluent Somerset, the crowd was big and loud and supportive when the Republican challenger posed the following question during an address that focused largely on economic issues: “Ya think we ought to get tougher on Clinton?”

“Yeah!” the crowd cheered in reply.

“Well,” said the laconic former senator, “we’re thinking about it.”

Times staff writer Jonathan Peterson in Albuquerque contributed to this story.