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By Ryan Thornburg
With President Clinton and three of his toughest critics all being forced to admit "improper" relationships in the last month, one Missouri lawyer decided he wanted to know right up front if there are any skeletons in the closets of either of the state's Senate candidates. Attorney Norman W. Pressman promised a $1,000 contribution to both Sen. Kit Bond (R) and Democratic challenger Jay Nixon if they would sign an affidavit that they have never committed adultery.
• Nixon, Bond Are Asked to Vow They Are Faithful (The Post-Dispatch, St. Louis, Sept. 16)
Missouri Attorney General Nixon, who signed the affidavit but declined the money, is running a television ad featuring his wife. "One of the most important things to Jay Nixon is family," she says. While most Democrats are running scared from the Clinton scandal, a spokeswoman for Nixon's campaign said Clinton's affair gave them an "opportunity" to "talk about the character of our candidate." The ad, she said, contrasted Nixon's "mainstream Missouri values" with "Washington morals and a Washington lifestyle." Makes you wonder why he'd want to spend six years in Washington.
"Missouri values" aside, the heartland is not immune from the kind of revelations that are sweeping Washington. The Kokomo Tribune in Indiana reported last week that state Sen. Steven R. Johnson had an extramarital affair with a 23-year-old intern in 1997. Just as in Washington, Johnson's wife has said she forgives him and will stand by him, while fellow lawmakers call for Johnson's resignation.
Indiana Rep. Dan Burton (R), who also confessed to an extramarital relationship recently, has so far avoided criticism for his affair from Democratic challenger Bob Kern. Kern is busy with his own problems right now. Kern was cleared of criminal wrongdoing after he got a little miffed that his bank card wasn't working. Kern said he was going to get an Uzi and "go back to the banking center downtown and shoot the man that opened the account and every time I pull the trigger, spell my name." Kern's party is also trying to get the Democrat thrown off the ballot because the cross-dressing convicted felon did not use his given name, Bobby Scott Hidalgo, on the primary ballot.
Politicians in North Carolina and Georgia are making Clinton an issue. In Georgia, Republican gubernatorial candidate Guy Millner is tying his Democratic opponent, state Rep. Roy Barnes, to the president. "Bill Clinton is linked to Roy Barnes whether he wants to be or visa versa or not." Millner said Tuesday. "They're both of the same party and both of the same persuasion – they're both liberal."
North Carolina's Republican state House speaker, Harold Brubaker, is telling potential donors in a recent fund-raising letter: "Do not give up on America or North Carolina because of Bill Clinton and the tax and spend liberals in the legislature."
Democrats in several states admit that they are concerned about the effect that Clinton's personal problems will have in races all the way down to the state legislature. In Maine and Illinois, Democrats said they fear low turnout. The scandal isn't helping cash-strapped parties like those in Michigan and Florida, either. Some Democrats, like Illinois gubernatorial candidate Rep. Glenn Poshard, are sticking by Clinton. Others, like the entire Oklahoma Democratic Party, are shying away.
Clinton's effect on state politics is already reaching into one 2000 governor's race. White House Chief of Staff Erskine Bowles, said – in no uncertain terms – that Clinton's scandal would have an effect on whether he runs for office after leaving the White House in the next several months. Bowles, the son of a one-time gubernatorial candidate in North Carolina, did not elaborate. Ryan Thornburg can be reached at ryan.thornburg@washingtonpost.com
© Copyright 1998 The Washington Post Company |
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