Campaign Almanac

Thursday’s events on the presidential campaign trail:

The candidates

Bill Clinton: Campaigned in Arizona, which has not voted for a Democratic presidential candidate since Harry Truman. Clinton urged America to reject “racial, ethnic, tribal and religious divisions.” Despite allegations that foreign campaign donors bought access to the Oval Office, Clinton aides refused to allow the president to be questioned by reporters.

Bob Dole: Announced a 96-hour, virtually nonstop final push through 15 states beginning today. “I want to shake up this race,” he declared in Miami. The campaign will take only 90-minute stops every 24 hours so Dole and his entourage could freshen up. “Gonna wear you out,” he told reporters. Trailing badly in the polls with five days to go, Dole also appealed to Ross Perot’s supporters for their votes.

Ross Perot: Has saved about 75 percent of his more than $29 million in government financing to use during the election home stretch. So far, he has aired many TV commercials, but made only weekly public appearances. Perot is now attending daily campaign rallies, hitting hard on Clinton’s ethics and the need for an outsider to reform the political system.

Al Gore: Said the Republican Party has strayed from its roots as the party of Abraham Lincoln. He said at a rally in Galveston, Texas, that House Speaker Newt Gingrich and 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!”’

Jack Kemp: Declared there was “an arrogance of power” in the White House, much like that in the early 1970s during the Watergate scandal. “This administration takes credit for everything and responsibility for nothing, and I think it’s catching up with them,” Kemp said in an interview from Ventura, Calif.

News Of Note

The growing use of absentee ballots, particularly in Western states, is likely to complicate the reporting of election returns Tuesday night and could delay for days the determination of who controls the House of Representatives. If the outcome hinges on a half-dozen or fewer seats - a distinct possibility - close races on the West Coast, where polls close latest, could be the determining factors.

Endorsements

Clinton: The News Tribune (Tacoma)

Upcoming on tv

Today:

Dole and Perot on PBS’ “Talking With David Frost.”

Monday:

Perot airs 30-minute infomercial on ABC, NBC and CBS.

Today’s stops:

Clinton: Santa Barbara, Calif.; El Paso, Texas; Las Cruces N.M.; San Antonio, Texas.

Dole: Columbus, Ohio; Ashland, Ohio; Grand Rapids, Mich.; Detroit.