Campaign Trail

‘Show me’ to the White House

KANSAS CITY, Mo.

Missouri, a presidential bellwether state throughout the 20th century, continues to look good for President Clinton.

A poll conducted for The Kansas City Star from Saturday through Monday gives Clinton a 10-point lead over Republican Bob Dole.

Clinton had 48 percent to Dole’s 38 percent; Reform Party candidate Ross Perot tallied 5 percent. In July, Mason-Dixon Political/Media Research had the race at 47 percent for Clinton, 34 percent for Dole and 8 percent for Perot.

The poll’s undecided total of 9 percent poses a daunting challenge for Dole. The low count means there are few people left that the former senator from Kansas could convince as he attempts to overtake the president.

Missouri’s unique blend of influences - from the North and the South, from urban and rural interests - has made the state a reliable presidential bellwether since 1900. Only once - in 1956 when Missouri opted for Adlai Stevenson over another Kansan, Dwight Eisenhower - did the state pick a loser.

Clinton, from Arkansas, carried Missouri easily in 1992, President George Bush by a 10-point margin.

A beef about tax cuts

AMANA, Iowa

When Dole dropped by the farm show here Wednesday, Sharon Behounek tried unsuccessfully to get in to hear the GOP presidential candidate, so she could ask him one question.

“How can you have a 15 percent tax cut and not have the deficit go up?” asked Behounek, who described herself as a farm wife who lives near this rural community.

Behounek said she and many of her friends decided not to vote for Dole when he unveiled his economic plan that calls for sweeping tax cuts, balancing the budget, and preserving large government programs, such as Social Security and defense.

The fact that Dole has had to return to this traditionally Republican state so close to the election is further evidence that he has yet to close the sale with voters on his ambitious tax cut plan.

In Iowa and earlier at a rally in St. Louis, Dole tried to convince voters that his tax plan is doable while arguing that his opponent, Clinton, is a traditional liberal on tax and spending issues.

“I didn’t just dream this up,” Dole told people at the Farm Progress Show, explaining that he worked with the state’s Republican senator, Charles Grassley, in developing the tax package. He then stressed that his plan would reduce the estate tax, an important deduction for farmers who often have difficulty selling their land because of the tax.

Dole, who barely beat conservative Pat Buchanan in the primary caucus here in February, continues to trail President Clinton in recent statewide polls, largely because of weak support in the state’s largest city, Des Moines, and its suburbs.

From the horses’ mouths

Al Gore: Pushed a proposal to expand the nation’s family leave law. “Again if we’re going to say we value strong families … then we’ve got to be willing to put our laws where our political rhetoric is,” Gore said in Shreveport, La.

Jack Kemp: Joined New York’s Roman Catholic Cardinal John O’Connor in urging the Senate to outlaw so-called “partial-birth abortions” over Clinton’s objections. Kemp suggested adoption as an alternative.

Pat Choate: Held a news conference with Jesse Jackson in Washington to protest being excluded from the presidential debates. “We think we will prevail,” Choate said. “We know we should be in these debates.”

On the tube

Friday: Gore, Kemp and Choate interviewed on “Talking With David Frost” PBS.

Sunday: Clinton and Dole answer a question about trust at approximately 7:55 p.m. EDT on Fox.

Tuesday: Clinton and Dole answer a question about what they think is the most critical problem facing the nation between 8:30 p.m. and 9 p.m. EDT on Fox.