President Spells Out Opposition to Prop. 209

Responding to pleas from opponents of California’s Proposition 209, President Clinton on Thursday night underscored his opposition to the controversial ballot measure, saying his experiences growing up in the segregated South drove home for him the need for the “right kind” of affirmative action programs.

Clinton has been on record opposing Prop. 209, which would abolish state affirmative action programs, but he previously avoided bringing up the issue during numerous campaign appearances in California this year.

In recent weeks, with polls showing the race over the initiative tightening, the measure’s foes have urged Clinton to take a more active role in the debate.

Clinton did so as he ended a long campaign day with a speech to an enthusiastic crowd of 13,000 who crowded Oakland’s Jack London Square for a nighttime rally.

The president broached the issue somewhat casually, telling his listeners, “My problem with this 209--I know it’s maybe popular and maybe not, but let me tell you what I know.”

He then talked about growing up in Arkansas in the 1950s, during a time when segregation was officially sanctioned by state laws throughout the South.

“I’m old enough to remember, in my home state, when I could go into county courthouses, and look at the square and the restrooms were divided between white and colored,” he said. “I’m old enough to remember when people had to buy a poll tax to vote.”

Clinton said such boyhood experiences taught him the need for programs that would help overcome the affects of racial prejudice.

While reiterating that he has “never been for quotas” that would require government or businesses to hire a set number of minorities, he said, “I am for giving people a chance to prove that they are qualified.”

He added, “That’s what I believe, and I hope you do too.”

He singled out programs used by the military to increase the number of minority officers as “the right kind of affirmative action.”

Through such programs, he said, “somebody made an extra effort to give [minorities] a chance to prove they were qualified. I admire that.”

Clinton also invoked the name of retired Gen. Colin L. Powell, a Republican who broke with his party leaders to declare his opposition to efforts to dismantle affirmative action programs. Clinton praised Powell for “taking on” his own party on the issue.

Leaders of the fight against Prop. 209 on Thursday night predicted that Clinton’s remarks would provide a clear boost to their efforts to overcome the lead the measure has enjoyed in the polls. Those pushing the initiative discounted the significance of the president’s comments.

Kathy Spillar, Southern California coordinator for Stop Prop. 209, said, “We feel the more often Clinton repeats his opposition to 209, the better it will be for us. People should know who is on their side.”

But Arnold Steinberg, chief strategist for the Prop. 209 campaign, said Clinton’s comments “were irrelevant.”

“At this point, it doesn’t matter what Clinton says on the issue,” Steinberg said. “I don’t think people will make up their minds based on what Clinton says. . . . If his position had been new, it would be different. It would have had significant impact. But people know where he stands on this issue. . . .”

Even as Clinton interjected himself more vigorously into the Prop. 209 debate, he hewed to his overall reelection strategy of never straying too far from the political center. He made a point of noting that as president he has taken steps to rid the federal government of a few affirmative action programs and “raised standards for others.”

The president’s comments came on the heels of a major speech supporting Prop. 209 that his Republican challenger, Bob Dole, gave in San Diego on Monday. Like Clinton, Dole previously had been reluctant to wade into the debate himself, despite advice from state GOP leaders who believe that the issue could help him in his uphill bid to carry California.

Dole--a former supporter of affirmative action programs, said in San Diego he now opposes them because he believes they did not work and that the nation “cannot fight the evil of discrimination with more discrimination.”

Clinton’s arrival in Oakland marked the start of his 29th trip to California as president. The crowd he addressed was enlivened by some supporters dressed in Halloween costumes, and Clinton quickly picked up on that theme.

“Since we’re talking about masks, I’m going to take off a mask or two myself,” Clinton said. Then he criticized Dole for saying the economy is at a 20-year low. “I’ve got news for him,” Clinton said. “The worse economy that California had in 20 years was when I got elected president. It’s better now.”

Clinton began his campaigning Thursday by pressing his relentless bid for reelection with a trip to the Republican stronghold of Arizona, proclaiming progress on a broad spectrum of family concerns while imploring people to come to the polls on election day.

“Will you be there Tuesday?” he asked the thousands who turned up at a rally under a cloudless sky at Arizona State University. “Will you talk to your friends?”

Clinton campaigned later in the day in Nevada, and he and his entourage were to spend the night in Santa Barbara, where today he is slated to address the one issue that has caused him political headaches of late--campaign financing.

With controversy building around the Democratic National Committee’s acceptance of questionable donations linked to foreign interests, the president apparently concluded that the topic is too hot to leave entirely to his surrogates. In his comments, the president is expected to call for a bipartisan approach to reforming campaign-finance laws.

The Santa Barbara speech looms as the exception to the rule that has marked virtually all of Clinton’s public appearances this fall--he campaigns energetically while carefully steering clear of anything that might spark controversy or endanger his lead in the polls.

This reality has created the type of odd contrast that was evident at his stops in Phoenix and Las Vegas. While reporters peppered his aides with detailed queries about the campaign-financing furor, Clinton’s public appearances were studies in good cheer, bristling with references to medical progress, the American dream and strong communities.

“I want an America where the American dream is alive and well for any person responsible enough to work for it, without regard to race or gender or background or where they start out in life,” Clinton told his Phoenix audience.

His appearance in Arizona just days before the election was testimony to the favorable current Clinton and his aides believe they are riding and hope to maintain. No Democratic presidential candidate has carried this state since Harry S. Truman in 1948, yet polls show Clinton has at least an even shot at doing that.

At a rally in Las Vegas, Clinton paid homage to advancements in treating AIDS, stroke and spinal injuries. He then spoke of the pressures faced by working parents: “Their most important job is raising their children, but we have to have a strong economy,” he said, adding, “There is no more important agenda for America.”

He mixed nostalgic reflections with a bid to refurbish prevailing attitudes toward politicians: “I’m about to end my last campaign. . . . I’ve been working at this for over 20 years now. Most people I’ve met from both parties, from all points on the political spectrum, have loved our country, have wanted what was best for it, worked hard and were honest--contrary to the image that is often portrayed.”

And striking an above-the-fray approach, he said: “I don’t like all this harsh rhetoric and personal attacks and attempts to convince people that your opponent is no good. I don’t think there’s very much to that.”

These remarks were unmistakable reference to Dole’s tough recent attacks on Clinton’s ethics and character. Meanwhile, the president’s campaign released a new television ad designed to blunt those attacks as well as call to mind the doubts Dole expressed earlier this year over whether nicotine is addictive. The ad features Linda Crawford, wife of a tobacco lobbyist who died of lung cancer, praising Clinton for his efforts to curb teenage smoking.

Even as Clinton continued to generally avoid an overtly partisan tone, Vice President Al Gore took a more hard-edged approach as he campaigned in Texas.

Using Halloween imagery at a stop in Galveston, Gore urged his audience to put Democrats back in control of Congress, saying, “No longer should we allow the United States House of Representatives to be a haunted House of Representatives--by Speaker Newt Gingrich.”

Linking Dole with Gingrich--a favorite Democratic tactic since early this year--Gore said the pair “are following the siren song of the right wing that has now captured control of the modern Republican Party. . . . Most people in both political parties have long since decided that Newt Gingrich and Bob Dole simply went way too far over to the extreme right-wing edge, and Nov. 5 is a chance to send a message to them: ‘Don’t ever do that again!’ ”

Times staff writers Elizabeth Shogren in Galveston and Miles Corwin in Los Angeles contributed to this story.

* DOLE GOING NONSTOP: Bob Dole pledged he’ll campaign nonstop in at least 15 states until election day. A30