NATION/WORLD
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Monday, November 7, 1994
7A
Clinton seeks support for Democrats
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — With control of Congress and key statehouses in the balance, President Clinton hunted West Coast support yesterday for Democrats, urging voters to say no to gridlock. Republicans expressed confidence they would capture control of the Senate, and perhaps the House.
"I'll be happy with a one-vote victory," said Texas GOP gubernatorial challenger George W. Bush, speaking for nervous candidates everywhere.
With voters expressing widespread anger and disillusionment, the polls all pointed to major, midterm Republican congressional gains.
"Obviously we're going to lose some seats in the House and in the Senate," said White House Chief of Staff Leon Panetta. Even so, he said on CBS' Sunday Morning, we have a very good chance of holding both houses for the final two years of Clinton's turn.
Some Republicans were markedly more optimistic.
Sen. Phil Grumm of Texas, appear
ing on the same CBS program, said come January, Republicans would control the Senate, and move swiftly toward passage of a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution. "We're going to do it. We're going to win somewhere between 7 and 12 seats," he said of the Senate, where a pickup of seven would end Democratic control.
In the House, where Democrats have held a majority for 40 years, GOP Whip Newt Gingrich predicted Republican gains of 35 to 60 seats. A switch of 40 would make him speaker, the first Republic to wield the gavel since Dwight Eisenhower was president.
Gingrich was behind a Republican Contract with America, a campaign manifesto that made GOP candidates everywhere the party of lower taxes and a more conservative government.
Clinton's counter claim was that the country was better off than it was two years ago, and that Republicans only offered a return to "trickle-down economics" that favored the wealthy.
Knight-Ridder Tribune
The Associated Press
Republicans now hold 20 of 50 governorships.
WASHINGTON — The giants among Democratic governors — Mario Cuomo in New York, Lawton Chiles in Florida and Ann Richards in Texas — battled to the end against a Republican tide that could give the GOP a statehouse majority for the first time in 25 years.
Heated exchanges on crime and taxes marked many of this year's 36 contests in the final week before the Nov. 8 election. Polls showed tightening races in a number of states, among them Connecticut, Rhode Island, South Carolina, and Tennessee.
Republican hopes for a sweep of the nation's eight largest states have been dampened by rebounds by Cuomo, Chiles and Richards. The GOP can count on holding California and the three largest Midwestern states, and seems likely to pick up Pennsylvania.
There are 21 Democratic seats at stake this year, compared to 14 Republican and one Independent. The GOP last occupied a majority of the state executive mansions in 1970, when it held 32.
California Gov. Pete Wilson is holding his lead over Democrat Kathleen Brown despite the decline of an immigration initiative to which he is closely tied. The race is centering on crime and the initiative, which would deny illegal immigrants schooling and other government services. Brown was so short of money that she pulled her weekend TV ads.
Elsewhere, GOP incumbents Jim Edgar of Illinois, George Voinovich of Ohio and John Engler of Michigan have virtually insurmountable leads over their opponents. In fact, there's concern that Ohio Democrat Rob Burch could receive less than 20 percent and temporarily disqualify his party from getting a share of the state income tax check-off.
Poll indicates races are close The Associated Press
TOPEKA, Kan. — Republican challenger Todd Tidthrist had veteran Democratic Rep. Dan Glickman locked in a statistical dead heat in their 4th District race heading into tomorrow's election, the final Kansas Poll showed.
In addition, Democrat Judy Hancock was within striking distance of incumbent Republican Jan Meyers in the 3rd District, with only a six-point spread.
In the battle for an open seat in the 2nd District, Republican Sam Brownback had opened a commanding lead over former Democratic Gov. John Carlin, while veteran Republican Pat Roberts appeared to have a lock on another term in the 1st District.
The copyright Kansas Poll results, published in the Topeka Capital-Journal, was conducted by Central Research & Consulting Inc. of Topeka.
Hundreds attend funeral of drowned Smith brothers
The Associated Press
UNION, S.C.—A single white coffin stacked with yellow roses held the bodies of two young brothers whose drowning was mourned by hundreds yesterday.
David Smith, with bowed shoulders and a handkerchief stifling his sobs, followed as the coffin holding his sons, 3-year-old Michael and 14-month-old Alex, was wheeled from the church to a cemetery.
The boys' mother, Susan Smith, was absent — behind bars and charged with killing her sons by strapping them into their car safety-seats and sending the car into a lake.
About 300 people crowded into the Buffalo United Methodist Church for the 45-minute service, where ministers assured mourners that the children were in better hands.
"Sometimes God takes from us the most precious jewels in life so he can give them back to us in eternity," said Rev. Joe Bridges.
Outside, the gray sky hanging over the nearby Bogansville United Methodist Church cemetery matched the mood of this textile town of about 10,000 in northwest South Carolina.
Scores of flower arrangements were spread over a large part of the cemetery around the boys' grave. A sign near the coffin read, "Alex and Michael. Heaven Bound."
Cars lined the county road as mourners viewed the coffin.
The boys were found at the bottom of Lake John D. Long on Thursday. Nine days earlier their mother told police a man with a gun took her car and her children and drove off.
As the community and the nation mourned, new details surfaced.
CBS news, citing a law enforcement source, reported that the investigation into the killings continued and that at least one other person could be arrested. However, state police Chief Robert Stewart said he knew of no other arrests.
Knight-Riddert Tribune
Simpson's alternate jury important
The Associated Press
LOS ANGELES — The judge calls them relief pitchers. Others see them as copiots or understudies, poised for their moment. Whatever the label, at least some of the alternate jurors yet to be picked for O.J. Simpson's murder trial are likely to play a key role.
In a trial expected to last at least six months, jurors may fall ill, encounter personal emergencies that will force them to drop out or somehow disobey the judge's admonition to avoid
all media coverage of the case. If that happens, an alternate juror will step in.
To ward against a mistrial, Judge Lance Ito wants 15 alternates, an unusually large number.
in the Reginald Denny beating trial, five of six alternates were pressed into service.
Alternate jurors sit in court and listen to all the testimony but don't participate in deliberations unless they replace a regular juror.
tomorrow, drawing on a pool of 80 prospects who filled out questionnaires in September but have not yet been quizzed in person.
The new round of inquiry could be just as intense as the six-week process that ended Thursday with the swearing in of 12 jurors to decide if Simpson killed Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman.
Lawyers in the Simpson case were to begin selecting alternate jurors
"I think both sides are going to approach selection with only slightly diminished zeal," said Robert Pugsley, a law professor at Southwestern University.
Jan Meyers' Opponent Wrong On Student Aid Figures!
There are at least five errors in Judy Hancock's information:
2. I do not support the CBO plan
1. The plan was a Congressional Budget Office (CBO) plan-not a Republican plan.
3. Hancock's figures were inflated by 5 times.She said $5 million would be lost in federal funding, but the accurate figure is $1 million.The total amount in the CBO plan nationwide affects less than 5% of post-secondary education support.
4. Student aid is not mentioned in the Republican Contract With America. What Hancock has said is so totally wrong it's very difficult to set the record straight. Her intent is to deceive.
5. I have an outstanding record of support for education.
The editorial below, written in the The Baker University Orange by Rachel Spaethe, tells it like it is about Hacock's misrepresentations.
The Baker University
range
Commentary
Hancock misused info at forum
The controversial facts were presented during Hancock's closing statement, and if they were true, they could affect how many college students vote. Hancock accused Meyers of supporting legislation that would cut 352 work study jobs on Baker's campus. Since Meyers had already given her closing statement, she did not have a chance to respond. How true or how fair are these accusations?
When Third District congressional candidates Rep. Jan Meyers (R) and Judy Hancock (D) visited Baker's campus last week and debated in an open forum, Hancock presented some very startling facts. The forum began with an opening statement from each candidate. Following, questions were asked by the audience. And, to end the evening's discussion, each candidate presented a closing statement.
The "contract" that Meyers signed is the Republican "Contract with America" that displays a commitment to bring 10 issues to the floor for debate and vote on them in the first 100 days of Congress. Signing the contract does not mean Meyers must vote for these issues, but vote on them. In other words, Meyers does not have to support the Contract with America in its entirety.
Hancock released a statement reporting that Meyers signed a contract pledging her support to eliminate student loans for more than 3,500 students in the Third District which total more than $5 million in assistance.
When Meyers defends her position, she emphasizes that she has an outstanding record of support for education as she voted for every education authorization and appropriation bill since she has been in Congress. She asserts that she is an avid supporter of education.
Hancock claims the contract proposes to completely eliminate the federal work study program, the Federal SUplemental Education
Opportunity Grant, and the Perkins Loon Program in order to reduce the deficit. This is where the controversy begins.
If there were never another dollar of federal money loans would continue from this revolving fund. If the CBO plan was enacted, it would affect less than five percent of the federal support for higher education.
The contract simply states deficit reduction should be discussed. The suggestion of cutting campus-based aid for higher education is taken from the Congressional Budget Office. This CBO suggestion would redirect half of the campus-based aid to the Pell Grant Program, and half to deficit reduction. Perkins loans, part of the campus-based aid are made from a revolving fund made up of federal monies, matched by the schools, and removement of previous loans.
The contract simvol states deficit reduction should be discussed.
Meyers points out in the news release that she does not necessarily support the CBO plan. In addition, the CBO plan is NOT a Republican idea.
She also suggests that the figures presented by Hancock are wrong. Meyers thinks the amount of awards given to students were totaled and then assumed this money would be lost if the CBO plan were adopted. Meyer's claims this is not accurate for several reasons. To begin, the total yearly federal funding for these three programs must be considered - not the amount of annual student awards-to determine the amount of money the Third District might lose.
So, if you attended the forum, or even if you just plan on voting in the third district, you should realize that politicians often distort facts to make them work in their favor. This was Meyer's chance at a rebuttal because she did not have that opportunity at the forum.
RACHEL SPAETHE
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