Dole Says He’ll Take Tougher Stance Against Clinton

With the election just three weeks away and the campaign’s final debate looming, Republican Bob Dole flew West Monday, promising supporters he will take a tougher stance toward President Clinton when the two face off here Wednesday.

His toughest talk came early in a day of small crowds and verbal missteps, as he flew from Washington to Kansas City, finally landing in San Diego, all the while publicly playing out his internal struggles over changing his campaign course.

In Kansas City, after several fitful attempts to do so, Dole for the first time added his voice to the growing GOP clamor about contributions to the Democratic Party that may be linked to Indonesian business interests.

The finale to Dole’s awkward campaign trip came when he stood in San Diego before a spare rally between a multistory American flag and a battleship, the Ingersoll. “We’re very honored to be back in San Francisco,” he said. “We’re here for a great debate.”

The crowd began to rumble, the candidate looked up and hurriedly corrected himself. “Oh. San Diego. Sure.”

It was during a stop in the San Fernando Valley last month that Dole committed a similar gaffe, referring to the “Brooklyn” Dodgers.

On the contribution controversy, Dole’s campaign announced it had sent Clinton a series of questions about the transactions. “We think the American people are entitled to the facts,” Dole said in comments to reporters after a noontime rally. “No more slipping and sliding, Mr. President, just answer the questions.”

But Dole did not mention to his supporters in either Kansas City or San Diego the complicated and brewing controversy, which focuses on a total of $425,000 in contributions to the Democratic National Committee made by an Indonesian couple, who were permanent residents of the United States living in Virginia. In fact, in both appearances, Dole waited until the end of his typical stump speech--devoted mainly to promoting his proposed 15% cut in income tax rates--before targeting the president on any matters related to ethics and character.

Ever since he declined to respond during his Oct. 6 debate with Clinton to a question about “personal differences” between himself and the incumbent, Dole has appeared to slowly--and a little reluctantly--take to heart advice that he attack the president more directly and fervently.

“You think I was too easy on him the last time?” Dole asked his sparse but supportive crowd in Kansas City.

“Yes!” they shouted.

“That’s what I thought,” Dole responded.

He then launched into a litany of alleged and potential wrongdoings by Clinton--from the FBI files incident to the possibility of pardons for those convicted in the Whitewater scandal. He summed up by saying the president “does not have an ethical administration, and we’re going to go after that in the debate Wednesday night.”

Dole took Clinton to task for what he said was the president’s ducking of blame for the nation’s problems, such as drug use, while claiming credit for an improving economy.

“As Harry Truman used to say, ‘The buck stops here.’ But as Bill Clinton says, ‘The buck doesn’t stop anywhere,’ ” Dole intoned from a red-white-and-blue podium in the large Barney Allis Plaza that dwarfed the noontime crowd. “It just keeps going. He’s not responsible for anything.”

Bringing up the possibility of Clinton’s pardoning those convicted in the Whitewater investigation, Dole said the president “had better make it very clear, no pardons. No pardons to anybody he did business with who may be in jail.”

But the candidate performed a hesitant fox trot even as he broached the question of the donations to the DNC by the Indonesian couple. The pair had personal links to a wealthy Indonesian businessman, who in turn had a close relationship with Clinton.

House Speaker Newt Gingrich and other GOP leaders have questioned whether the couple, Arief and Soraya Wiriadinata, were fronts for well-heeled foreigners who sought to skirt U.S. laws prohibiting noncitizens or nonresidents from funneling money to U.S. political campaigns.

Gingrich on Sunday said investigations were “unavoidable” into the couple’s contributions and a donation from a South Korean company that the party returned after queries by The Times.

Dole aides promised Monday that the candidate would raise the issue in the Kansas City speech. He didn’t. Then he was asked for comment while getting into his car after the rally. He declined. After talking to his Washington office while driving to the airport, he apparently changed his mind.

Before boarding his flight to San Diego, Dole read to himself a statement by campaign manager Scott Reed that had been prepared for the press, then issued his call for Clinton to answer questions about the controversy.

Clinton, who spent most of his day sequestered at a hotel in Albuquerque preparing for Wednesday’s debate, had a terse comment when asked by reporters about the contribution controversy. “It’s election time,” the president said.

White House Press Secretary Mike McCurry, with Clinton in Albuquerque, chalked up the emerging GOP attacks on the issue to pure politics. “We’re in the closing days of the campaign and they’re getting pretty desperate.”

The written statement by Reed said the contributions from the Indonesian couple “make a mockery” of the administration’s claims to run the “most ethical” White House in history.

And Reed posed five pointedly phrased questions to the president, including: “Why have you used U.S. foreign policy in Indonesia as a fund-raising tool to help secure illegal campaign contributions from foreigners.”

The Clinton campaign, meanwhile, unveiled a new radio advertisement that is aimed at religious conservatives and showcases the president’s signature on a bill banning gay marriages despite earlier White House complaints that the issue amounted to “gay baiting.”

Clinton campaign spokesman Don Foley said the ad was a response to a Dole spot released last week, blaming Clinton for a national “moral crisis.” The ad was running on many of the 70 Christian radio stations on which Dole advertised.

The ad also seeks to defuse criticism Clinton received for vetoing a bill that would have banned late-term abortions. The ad says Clinton wants “a complete ban” on the procedure, referred to as partial-birth abortions, “except when the mother’s life is in danger or [she] faces severe health risks.”

Clinton cited the failure of the bill passed by Congress to grant those exceptions as the reason for his veto.

Dole’s running mate, Jack Kemp, campaigned in Anaheim and Rancho Mirage on Monday before joining Dole at the San Diego rally. He used his earlier appearances to tout Dole’s economic plan.

At a California League of Cities conference in Anaheim, Kemp argued that California, in particular, would benefit from Dole’s proposal.

“The answer to California’s economy, families and cities is not higher taxes, more unfunded mandates, more ridiculous regulations, more frivolous lawsuits, more porous borders or more disregard for our inner cities,” Kemp said. “What Bob Dole and I are talking about is a vision for growth, opportunity and prosperity for every single American, including every single Californian, from South-Central L.A. to Silicon Valley, from San Diego to the San Joaquin Valley.”

Although Kemp left for Las Vegas after the San Diego rally, senior advisors said he planned to spend about a third of his time in the campaign’s final weeks in California. Dole planned to remain in California for two days after the debate.

Vice President Al Gore campaigned on Monday in Jacksonville, Fla., highlighting the administration’s plan to put 100,000 more police officers on the nation’s city streets. The program came under fresh attack on Sunday by Dole, who noted that less than half that number of policemen and women have actually been deployed.

Times staff writers Marc Lacey, Edwin Chen and Jonathan Peterson contributed to this story.