Bill Clinton rallied homestate Democratic troops Saturday and appealed for their help in countering Republican criticisms against their small state of Arkansas.
"We've had a plan, not just a bunch of hot air," the Democratic nominee told a convention of his state Democratic Party, citing steps to improve Arkansas' economy, schools and health-care system and efforts to move people from welfare to work.He told state Democrats they'd spent "a dozen years in our state, with our eyes on the future," adding that "bit by bit," the state had moved forward.
"Pretty soon, we looked back and we'd come a long way," Clinton told the roaring, flag-waving group of partisans. "We've got a lot of problems left to go, but we are doing our job."
"We didn't make any miracles," the Arkansas governor said. "But this is about doing better."
The Arkansas governor, who has been ridiculed by Republicans as the "failed governor of a small state," asked them to campaign for him in the next 66 days.
Two polls released Saturday showed the gap between Bush and Clinton narrowing in the past week. The margin was 6 percentage points in a Time Magazine-CNN poll that found 46 percent of likely voters saying they would vote for Clinton if the election were held today and 40 percent favoring Bush. In a Gallup-Newsweek survey, Clinton was favored by 49 percent of registered voters and Bush by 39 percent. Both surveys had 3-point margins of error.
The Bush campaign continued its sparring with Clinton over taxes.
Vice President Dan Quayle, visiting the Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pa., quipped that Clinton probably prefers football over Little League, saying "Every time the quarterback says `hike,' he thinks about taxes."
Clinton communications director George Stephanopoulos said Bush's proposed across-the-board tax cut was a "fool's promise" that couldn't be kept.
Democratic running mate Al Gore was in auto-dependent Michigan, where he dismissed GOP claims that the Democrats' policies would hurt the U.S. car industry. He said Bush and Quayle "brought pink slips not paychecks" to U.S. autoworkers.
Clinton got some help from Sen. David Pryor, who told his fellow Arkansans they should be offended by the Republican attack on Clinton.
"They're not talking about just Bill Clinton, they're talking about you," Pryor said.
Later, Clinton and Gore were headed to a star-studded fund-raiser at a Little Rock hotel expected to raise $1.2 million for the Democratic Party. Entertainers Chevy Chase and Herbie Hancock were in town for the gala.