Concerned about the timing of his fundraising trip to Chicago and three other cities so soon after the embassy bombings in Africa, President Clinton decided Monday to return to the White House a day early to meet with his foreign policy team.
Even with the reduced itinerary, the president is expected to raise more than $4 million for Democratic candidates, $1 million of it from Democrats who paid $5,000 apiece to attend an event Monday night with Clinton and Vice President Al Gore at the Chicago Historical Society.
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Clinton, appearing before 125 of the local Democratic Party’s biggest givers, sang the praises of Sen. Carol Moseley-Braun and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Glenn Poshard, both of whom face election difficulties this autumn.
At a time when Poshard’s opponent, Republican George Ryan, is attacking the Downstate congressman for supporting higher taxes, Clinton hailed Poshard’s courage for supporting an economic package the president says would cut the taxes of many Illinoisans.
But Clinton spent much of his time highlighting the issues on which Moseley-Braun stood beside him–and up to the GOP majority–including school funding, Social Security reform and a “patients bill of rights.”
Deputy Press Secretary Joe Lockhart cautioned that the president’s planned return at 5 a.m. Wednesday does not mean any kind of action is being planned to retaliate for the attacks.
“The president felt it was important to come back,” Lockhart said. “He was not really comfortable being out three days.”
Clinton is scheduled to take part in a memorial service early Thursday at Andrews Air Force Base when the bodies of the slain Americans are returned to this country. He also is to meet privately with the families and loved ones of those who died.
Clinton reportedly was engaged all weekend by the Africa bombings but decided to leave on what is largely a fundraising trip. Cutting the trip down by one day won’t cost the Democrats any money; though Clinton is canceling his appearance at a Milwaukee fundraiser scheduled for Wednesday night, First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton will attend in his place and raise $100,000.
The president began his day Monday in Louisville, where he raised $400,000. He flew on to Chicago, where he raised $800,000, and then left for California, where he was expected to raise $3 million in three events Tuesday for Democratic gubernatorial candidate Gray Davis in San Francisco and Los Angeles.
Although his grand jury testimony in the Monica Lewinsky matter is only one week off, Clinton showed no signs of being distracted Monday: He asked a crowd of several thousand in Louisville for a moment of silence to honor those slain in Africa and then announced he would veto a Republican patients bill of rights plan because, he said, it is filled with loopholes.
The president extended his sympathies not only to Americans who had lost loved ones in the two embassy bombings but also to the Africans.
“Somewhere around 200 Africans have died in those bombs now,” Clinton said. “We mourn their loss. We extend our sympathies to their loved ones. To the nations of Kenya and Tanzania, we thank them for their friendship to us.”
On health care, Clinton has been pushing his own patients bill of rights for months, and his veto threat came as no surprise. Democrats are expected to try to bottle up the Republican plan in the Senate by threatening a filibuster.
Clinton said his plan would provide more privacy for medical records, guarantee the rights of patients to see specialists and give patients the right to sue health-care providers.
Clinton often wedges in public-policy events amid fundraisers, which means taxpayers pay for part of the travel. He continued the theme of health-care reform in Chicago, saying it would be an issue in the fall elections.
“This is a big battle for how you and your children and your families will live in the 21st Century,” he said.