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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Gop Goes To Great Lengths For A Joke

Associated Press

Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole, showing creativity with a quip, offered three networks different jokes Wednesday about President Clinton’s 81-minute State of the Union message Tuesday night.

“If his speechwriters get paid by the word, we’ll never balance the budget,” Dole said on CBS.

“I think I stayed for all of it. I’m not certain,” he added on Fox.

“I was seated next to Strom Thurmond … and he said it was the longest speech he’d ever heard, and he was here when George Washington was here,” Dole concluded on NBC.

Dole, R-Kan., got a little morning-show competition from Rep. John Boehner, R-Ohio, who provoked a round of giggles with this opener to a Fox interviewer: “Is the president finished with his speech yet?”

But New Jersey Gov. Christie Whitman, offering the official GOP response to Clinton from her Statehouse in Trenton, pre-empted the field Tuesday night when her moment finally came.

“Before I begin, let me assure you, I am not going to ask for equal time,” she said.

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