Dole Is Top Choice Of Beauty Queens
Miss America contestants - those with opinions to express - have a favorite in the presidential competition.
Their winner is … Republican Bob Dole.
Twenty-two of the contestants in Saturday’s pageant said they plan to vote for Dole while nine said they support President Clinton. Another 19 said they are undecided or did not want to reveal their choices.
The Dole camp said it is humbled by the honor.
“That’s the kind of focus group we love,” said Nelson Warfield, press secretary for Dole.
“These young women represent the flower of the nation’s youth, and we’re proud to have such overwhelming support from them.”
GOP pushes anti-immigrant plan
WASHINGTON - House Republican leaders, defying a promised veto from President Clinton, vowed Tuesday to champion an election-year immigration bill that would let states deny free public education to many illegal immigrant children.
“Let’s take it to the floor of the House. I think we’ll get a huge vote for it,” House Speaker Newt Gingrich, R-Ga., told reporters. “Let’s take it to the floor of the Senate. I do not believe even the liberal Democrats are going to filibuster against illegal-immigration reform, and I do not believe that Bill Clinton is going to veto it.”
But Clinton pledged last month to veto the measure.
The two sides’ entrenched positions make clear that the sweeping immigration bill has become a political battleground in which the Republicans will try to force the president to veto legislation that is generally popular, notably in voter-rich California.
Reporter drowns out Clinton
KANSAS CITY, Mo. - A television reporter apologized on the air for talking so loudly during a live report Tuesday that President Clinton halted his speech to chide him.
“Does that guy want to give a speech back there?” Clinton asked, drawing laughter and applause. “We’ll be glad to listen to you, but we can’t both talk at the same time.”
Clinton had just started a speech to the Southern Governors’ Association when KMBC-TV reporter Kris Ketz, positioned on a platform 50 feet from Clinton, began wrapping up his live report, unaware that his voice was carrying across the room.
“I feel awful that it happened,” Ketz said as he later apologized to Clinton and to viewers during the station’s evening newscast.
It’s the sole owner
WASHINGTON - The music company that owns “Soul Man” doesn’t want the rhythm-and-blues hit turned into “Dole Man” and may seek damages to the tune of $100,000 per play from Bob Dole’s campaign.
Rondor Music International Inc. has written Dole, complaining that the Republican’s campaign theme song, “Dole Man,” violates Rondor’s copyright to the 1967 song written by David Porter and Isaac Hayes for the duo Sam and Dave.
“Dole Man” mimics the “Soul Man” refrain: “I’m a Dole man … I’m a Dole man.” The campaign has played “Dole Man” at rallies for months, including the Republican National Convention in San Diego.
Free air time on Fox
The Fox television network has decided to move ahead with its plan to give the major presidential candidates one minute in prime time each night to speak to viewers, regardless of what the other networks decide to do.
The Clinton and Dole campaigns have agreed to the Fox format, which will consist of a one-minute position statement from the candidate directly responding to one of 10 questions on issues. The 10 questions were devised by a team of Democratic and Republican pollsters.
On the road
Bill Clinton: Criticized Dole for voting against the family leave law and aired a heart-tugging TV ad portraying Dole’s opposition as coldhearted. “Those who have opposed us have been proved wrong,” Clinton said in Kansas City, Mo.
Bob Dole: Offered himself as a man to be trusted as the next president. “I’m not Candidate Clinton,” Dole said in Baker, La. “I’m Candidate Bob Dole. I keep my word to the American people.”