President Clinton stretched the campaign trail from the sun-splashed Rose Garden to beyond the White House gates Sunday, embarking on a seven-state tour after announcing a modest initiative to combat breast cancer.
Campaigning in a state that hasn't voted to put a Democrat in the White House since Lyndon Johnson's 1964 landslide, Clinton said, "Most people in Virginia have been voting against members of my party for president for over three decades now."And I know how hard it is to break a habit," the president told a couple thousand supporters at a northern Virginia rally. "But one of the things we all teach our kids is that some habits have to be broken." The crowd laughed and cheered.
Polls show the president ahead of Republican presidential nominee Bob Dole by six to nine points in Virginia.
Clinton paused after the rally to shake hands - and to make a congratulatory call to Joe Torre, manager of the World Series cham-pions New York Yankees. "You guys really showed your stuff," the president said after the Yankees came from behind to win their first title since 1978. The president also asked about the health of Torre's brother, Frank, who received a desperately needed heart transplant on Friday.
Clinton's trail wound from the White House to Virginia and Tennessee on Sunday. He'll stop in Missouri, Minnesota, Illinois,
Ohio and Pennsylvania before he returns to the White House Tuesday evening. Beginning Wednesday, Clinton will campaign nonstop until the election on Nov. 5.
"It's a week of summing up his argument for re-election . . . hopefully building a mandate with the results of the election," presidential spokesman Mike McCurry. He said Clinton would talk about welfare, education and balancing the budget.
On Monday, the government will announce the latest estimate of the federal budget deficit, and the number is expected to shrink. "It will be very encouraging," McCurry said. Clinton already boasts that he has cut the deficit by 60 percent, more than fulfilling his pledge to cut the deficit in half.
The president began the day with a Rose Garden ceremony where he announced a $30 million spending increase for research into the genetic basis of breast cancer. He said it was a step "to bring us closer to a cure and to improve the lives of those who do survive."
It was an event aimed at strengthening his support among women - and aggravating Dole's gender-gap problem. Most polls show that women represent about 60 percent of Clinton's support.
From the White House, Clinton flew by helicopter to Lee High School park in the northern Virginia suburb of Springfield.
Clinton's stop also was intended to boost Democrat Mark Warner's uphill campaign to unseat Republican Sen. John Warner.
Tennessee, the other state visited by the president Sunday, was solidly in the Democrats' victory column four years ago. Clinton's standing was helped by the fact it is the home state of Vice President Al Gore.
At the White House, Clinton met with five cancer survivors and signed a yellow ribbon.