Dole-Kemp Campaign Opens Fall Race With Call For Debates Gop Nominee Scoffs At Clinton’s Proposed Tax Breaks

Republican Bob Dole launched his fall campaign on Friday by accusing President Clinton of riding a “status quo express” out of Chicago and challenging him to a series of debates.

Dole’s campaign manager, Scott Reed, proposed talks beginning as early as next week with the Clinton campaign to set the terms for the encounters.

“Now the conventions are over. We’re starting the race today,” Dole told a boisterous GOP fairgrounds rally that he labeled “a retirement party for President Clinton.”

Both Dole and running mate Jack Kemp hit the campaign trail hard with the conclusion of the Democratic convention.

“The message out of Chicago was that the government knows best. The message out of our convention was that the people know best,” Dole said at a joint rally with Kemp earlier in the day in predominantly Republican Orange County, Calif.

Said Kemp: “When the (Democratic) convention shouted ‘Four More Years’ for Clinton and Gore - isn’t that the most depressing thought you’ve ever had?” In his New Mexico appearance, Dole belittled Clinton’s acceptance speech to the convention, including the president’s vow to build “a bridge to the future.”

“He raised enough taxes to build a big, big bridge, one all the way from Los Angeles to New York and back again,” Dole said. “We need a bridge from Washington, D.C., to Little Rock, Arkansas. That’s where the bridge ought to be built. It ought to be one-way.”

Dole also complained about harsh criticism of him from both Clinton and Vice President Al Gore. “They say nice things and they go out there and beat us to death,” Dole said.

And he scoffed at tax breaks proposed by Clinton. “These are targeted. They’re going to miss everyone in this audience,” he said.

Dole championed his own proposal for a $548 billion six-year tax cut.

He also promised his New Mexico audience that his plan to eliminate the Energy Department would not result in the closing of the department’s research laboratories in New Mexico.

Those labs will remain open “as long as I’m president,” Dole said. “The one lab that’s going to close is the one in the White House where they cook up all these ideas.”

The two labs - Sandia and Los Alamos - provide 21,000 jobs, according to Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M. Domenici told reporters he had Dole’s commitment not to close the labs, even though it was not immediately clear where the funds would come from to keep them open.