Campaign Trail
Abortion plank not nailed
Washington - Bob Dole failed to settle his party’s internal abortion rift Friday after calling in his convention platform chairman to try and quiet the waters.
Dole and Rep. Henry Hyde, R-Ill., a staunch abortion foe, met at Dole’s campaign headquarters, but they didn’t reach accord on where “tolerance” language should be placed in the GOP’s platform, sources said.
Dole wants it right in the abortion plank, but Hyde and other conservatives want it in the preamble. Hyde talked privately of quitting after Dole said two weeks ago he wanted the tolerance language right in the GOP’s platform, which officially states the GOP supports a constitutional ban on abortion.
Where there’s smoke …
Washington - When Dole publicly questioned whether tobacco is addictive recently, he “either exposed his abysmal lack of knowledge of nicotine addiction, or his blind support of the tobacco industry,” former Surgeon General C. Everett Koop told a conference of tobacco experts Friday.
Koop’s broadside came as part of a continuing response to Dole’s comments - made last week while traveling in Kentucky - that “to some people tobacco is addictive; to others, they can take it or leave it.” President Clinton and his supporters, in turn, have attacked Dole for receiving campaign funds from the tobacco industry.
And more smoke
Sacramento, Calif. - Anti-tobacco protesters - including a man dressed like a cigarette - have dogged Dole’s public appearances throughout his three-day stay in California, so during a visit to Sacramento, Dole tried to change the subject, after acknowledging that California leads the country with its anti-smoking laws and saying that people should not smoke.
“They shouldn’t smoke marijuana either, Mr. President,” he added, “and I haven’t seen much of a crackdown on that in this administration.”
During a visit to Fresno artist Clayton Turner, Dole noticed an ashtray brimming with cigarette butts. Dole told the artist’s sister, Katherine, “not good for you.”
By nightfall, Dole stopped for a bite to eat at California Pizza Kitchen in Newport Beach. But he couldn’t dodge a woman following him with a long cigarette and blowing smoke in his face as she said: “You’ve come a long way from Kansas, baby.”