Bob Dole and Jack Kemp focused on their economic plan in a crucial Midwestern battleground state Monday, insisting the economy was stagnant and would perform much better if taxes were cut and the federal budget balanced.
"It's about growth, it's about opportunity, it's about jobs, it's about the private sector," Dole told Republican governors and private business leaders. "We believe there are great opportunities. The mainstay of this campaign is the economic package."Dole, the Republican presidential nominee, said his plan to cut income taxes by 15 percent, give families a $500 per-child tax credit and halve the capital gains tax would spark investment and job growth. He also insisted that his campaign still had a chance to overtake President Clinton.
"There's a lot of movement out there," Dole said. "People are beginning to listen."
Clinton was also campaigning in Michigan later in the day after stopping in Ohio (see story on A2). Vice President Al Gore was stumping in the West.
Kemp said Clinton and other Democrats are criticizing their tax-cut plan in order to "drive a wedge" between workers and employers.
"You cannot hate employers and love employees. You cannot form employment without forming capital," Kemp said.
They spoke in a town hall-like setting, organized by the Republican Governors Association, held at a Detroit Diesel Corp. plant that employs 6,300 people and has turned itself from an industry laggard to a leader in heavy engine manufacturing.
Although Dole and Kemp contended the economy is working at a much slower pace than it should be, some of the governors acknowledged that it actually looks pretty good. But they said Clinton didn't deserve the credit.
"The economy has never been better. But let me tell you, it's the governors of this country who have made the difference," said Ohio Gov. George Voinovich.
After the event, Dole met privately with eight Republican governors who urged him to continue hammering away on economic issues and cheered him with talk that the race is winnable.
They sought to play down comments by Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson, a Republican who said the Dole campaign had been run poorly and had not listened enough to GOP governors who won state elections with low-tax agendas.
"Not one governor has said to me they were dissatisfied," said New Hampshire Gov. Steve Merrill. "I've been from Miami, Fla., to Anchorage, Alaska, for Dole-Kemp."
Gore, meanwhile, spent Sunday in Chicago trying to firm up traditional Democratic constituencies, meeting with Hispanic leaders and visiting a black church. "You can make the critical difference," he told his audiences.
Dole attacked the Democrats over the weekend at stops in traditionally Republican states for recent revelations that people with ties to an Indonesian business conglomerate have contributed hundreds of thousands of dollars to the Democrats.
He labeled the matter a "major scandal involving a flow of foreign money into the Democratic Party and attempts to buy access to the White House." He proposed an overhaul of campaign finance laws, including a ban on contributions from anyone who is not a U.S. citizen and eligible voter.
Currently, foreigners who are permanent U.S. residents may contribute.
"We simply cannot allow the political influence of any American to be outweighed by foreign money," Dole said Sunday in Nashua, N.H.
He proposed a bipartisan commission to tackle an issue that Congress has been unable to resolve, including another failure this year.
Clinton's re-election team said Dole was being hypocritical in calling for campaign finance reform when he had opposed many such measures in his 35-year career in Congress, including last year when a major effort failed to limit Senate and House campaign spending and abolish PACs.