Kemp Keeps Prop. 209 at Arm’s Length

One day after Republican presidential candidate Bob Dole plunged headlong into the raging debate over California’s Proposition 209, running mate Jack Kemp barely dipped his toe into the controversy over ending the state’s affirmative action programs.

Campaigning by bus through San Bernardino County on Tuesday, Kemp spoke repeatedly about the need for racial conciliation and equal opportunity. But he made only a single, passing reference to Proposition 209, the subject of a detailed defense by Dole on Monday in San Diego.

Dole’s embrace of Proposition 209 emerged as part of his campaign’s intensified efforts to carry California in Tuesday’s vote.

But Kemp, for his part, chose to stress the GOP’s economic program, which he said would benefit citizens of every race and background.

“We’re not going to leave anyone behind,” Kemp said at a rally in Redlands. “No one is going to be left out of the American dream.”

Kemp, a one-time backer of affirmative action, has said in previous campaign rallies that he stands with Dole in support of Proposition 209. And campaign aides said Kemp was in no way ducking the initiative. The aides said Tuesday’s bus tour, with its frequent stops, forced Kemp to boil his stump speech down to just over 10 minutes and leave out many topics.

Still, his failure to focus on Proposition 209 delivered the type of mixed message that has typified the GOP ticket’s approach to the ballot measure. Kemp just a few weeks ago publicly said the campaign did not plan to stress Proposition 209 as part of its strategy in California. And Dole himself had been reluctant to broach the issue until recently.

In a radio spot released this week for black voters in Los Angeles and other urban centers, Kemp appeared to try to soften Dole’s hard-line message against affirmative action.

Ignoring the ballot measure completely in the radio ad, Kemp says the Democratic Party has taken black voters for granted and not presented a new civil rights agenda aimed at promoting home ownership, entrepreneurship, educational achievement and equal opportunity.

“If you believe in an America without limits, an America full of hope with more jobs and take-home pay, then vote for Jack Kemp and Bob Dole,” Kemp says.

In an interview, Kemp said he wants to replace affirmative action with a fairer, more robust economy, not simply wipe it out.

“There is an old Chinese proverb, it says, ‘Don’t blow up your old house until you build a new house,’ ” Kemp said. “We have to build a new house of opportunity. . . . I think affirmative action was necessary, but I don’t think it’s necessary in perpetuity. We are in transition and this debate has to take place. It is taking place now because of this initiative.”