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Nation & World Speculation surrounds Bayh as potential Gore running mate by Mike Smith The Associated Press Indianapolis—Evan Bayh’s quick rise '"pm Indiana secretary of state to two term governor to U.S. senator did not sur prise Hoosiers. Seeds of his popularity were planted years ago by his father, Birch. The younger Bayh has been a rising star on the national scene for Democrats, as well. President Clinton tapped him to deliver the keynote address at the party’s 1996 national convention. But A1 Gore’s running mate? Vice President Bayh? Maybe, say some polit ical observers playing matchmaker in the “veeps takes.” Bayh, whose constant courting of the political center earned him a “Republi crat” tag in Indiana, takes an “aw shucks” ^proach when asked publicly about prospects of being on Gore’s ticket. “I’m flattered by your questions, but I think it would be premature of me to even speculate about it,” he said in March when Gore’s wife Tipper visited for a fund-raiser. The Gore camp says Bayh — his name is pronounced “buy” — is a great guy, “but there is no list and A1 Gore has said it is premature to even begin talking about this process,” campaign spokes woman Kathleen Begala said. That leaves others to speculate, and some put Bayh at or near the top of their list of possible Gore running mates. Ron Faucheux, editor in chief of Cam paigns & Elections magazine, has Bayh TjXl with California Sen. Diane Feinstein as the likely pick. “A young, attractive vote-getter from a GOP-leaning Midwestern state, Bayh has eight years gubernatorial experience (1989-97) in addition to his two-year Sen ate tenure,” Faucheux wrote. “He is to Gore what Gore was to Clinton: a rein forcing choice.” Another name mentioned is Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin. Illinois and other Mid west states are viewed as battle grounds that could tip the balance in November. When asked who Gore’s choice should be, Durbin mentioned Bayh alone. “I think he’s a very attractive po tential candidate for vice president, hav ing served as governor of Indiana, (and) a family name legendary in the Democ ratic Party,” Durbin said. Like Gore, Bayh, 44, is the son of a senator who had presidential aspirations, and both attended St. Albans prep school, a top choice among powerful Washing tonians. In 1988 at age 32, Bayh became the youngest governor in the country. Un like his father, considered a Great Soci ety liberal, he has carved a reputation as a social moderate and fiscal tightwad. From the day he became governor, Bayh began protecting his political im ageasa cautious, centrist steward. While many have claimed he accomplished no great feats, there was never a scathing scandal, and he was wildly popular. There also were no new taxes. “There appears to be nothing in Evan Bayh’s background that would cause any grief to A1 Gore,” said Ed Feigenbaum, a longtime political observer and pub lisher of Indiana Legislative Insight, a weekly newsletter. In Indiana, which a Democratic pres idential nominee hasn’t captured since Lyndon Johnson in 1964, Bayh proved himself as one who can transcend party lines. Gore and Republican Geoige W. Bush are trying to do the same as they battle for the independent vote. In his Senate election in 1998, Bayh won 90 percent of the Democratic vote and 30 percent of the Republican count, according to exit polls. Dave Rohde, a political science professor at Michigan State University, agreed Bayh would do no harm to the Gore ticket, but doubted he will be picked. Indiana has 12 electoral votes, not a huge payday in presidential politics. Flori da, with 25 votes, is a bigger prize and it’s in play, so Florida Sen. Bob Graham makes more sense as a vice presidential pick to Rohde. It takes 270 votes in the Electoral College to win the presidency. “If the Democrats are to carry Indi ana, they would have already won the presidency elsewhere. So, what you want is someone likely to bring you a state that carries the 270th electoral vote, not the 350th electoral vote,” Rohde said. Another criticism of Bayh is that he’s perceived as too much like Gore—stiff, measured, dispassionate. Bayh said he and Gore share com mon goals: balancing the budget, pro tecting Social Security and Medicare, and spreading economic prosperity to more people. But he said there is a lot of time un til the Democratic Party convention in August and Gore’s decision, and that “many things can change between now and then.” “While the speculation is certainly understandable, I think it’s premature,” Bayh said. ‘He is to Gore what Gore was to Clinton: a reinforc ing choice.' Ron Faucheux Editor in Chief, Campaigns & Elections Bush unveils 'New Prosperity' plan b y Glen Johnson The Associated Press Washington — Geoige W. Bush out lined a plan today to give the working poor credits for health insurance and rental vouchers for home down payments. He also said he plans to offer tax cred its for banks that match the savings de posits of poor people. Called his “New Prosperity Initia tive,” the $42 billion plan expands on tax-cut and education proposals previ ously offered by the all-but-official Re publican presidential nominee and con tinues his outreach to independents and moderate Democratic voters by talking about subjects often ignored by Repub lican candidates. “At the edges of affluent communi ties, there are those living in prosperity’s shadow,” Bush said in remarks pre pared for afternoon delivery to com munity and church leaders. “The same economy that is a mira cle for millions of Americans is a mys tery for millions as well, Americans who live in a world above welfare assistance but beneath prosperity’s promise,” he said. One part of his plan: Expand home ownership by giving participants in the Section 8 rental voucher program per mission to get a year’s worth of vouch ers in a lump sum for a home down payment. Another element: Provide a credit of up to $2,000 per family to cover 90 per cent of health insurance costs for those who do not qualify for government-spon sored programs such as Medicaid, yet do not receive insurance from their em ployers. “It is true that government can un demine upward mobility, as welfare once did,” Bush said. “It is equally true that government — active but limited gov ernment — can promote the rewards of work. It can take the side of individual opportunity.” The Texas governor was unveiling his proposal during an afternoon speech to about 250 community and church lead ers on Cleveland’s West Side — a heav ily Democratic area. “With the same energy and activism that others have brought to expanding government, we must expand opportu nity” by targeting those “between pover ty and prosperity,” Bush said. The Democratic National Commit tee, a vessel for the Democratic presi dential contender, Vice President A1 Gore, criticized Bush as he visited a job train • ing center known as “El Barrio” imme diately before his speech. El Barrio is a nonprofit social service agency that offers a range of services to the city’s Hispanic community, includ ing job training, transportation and trans lations. The Democrats cited a January re port by the Texas state auditor that found “gross fiscal mismanagement” in the ad ministration of a $201 million “Smart Jobs” fund overseen by the state De partment of Economic Development. “With a dismal job training record like his in Texas, it’s no wonder that Bush had to travel to Ohio to even talk about the issue,” a committee statement said. During his tour of El Barrio today, Bush visited a classroom where students were using a computer to write resumes and job-application letters, an English class and a class where Hispanic adults were learning to be bilingual bank tellers. Bush posed for photographs with the students and laughed when one student from Peru asked him where his cowboy hat was. “I left it at home,” he replied. A new CNN-USA Today-Gallup poll shows that Bush has pulled slightly ahead of Gore in the campaign. He was sup ported by 50 percent of likely voters com pared to 41 percent for Gore, up from a poll taken March 30-April 2 which showed the two in a statistical dead heat with Bush at 46 percent and Gore at 45 percent. Gore has criticized Bush’s five-year, $483 billion tax cut proposal as a “risky tax scheme” that leaves nothing for other government spending and So cial Security. Bush sees it as an under pinning for many of his other proposals. ‘With a dismal job training record like his in Texas, it's no wonder that Bush had to travel to Ohio to even talk about the-issue.’ Statement Democratic National Committee Holocaust from page 4 including “Hitler’s War,” said he does not deny that Jews were killed by the Nazis, but challenges the number and manner of Jewish concentration camp deaths. He called Tuesday’s ruling “perverse” and said he would seek to ap peal. The 62-year-old Briton represented himself during the nine-week, nonjury hearing, but as the loser must pay the huge legal costs, estimated at $3.2 mil lion, for Lipstadt and her publishers. Irving, who has been banned from Germany, Canada and Australia, main tained during the trial that he had been the victim of a 30-year international cam paign to destroy his reputation. He claimed that after publication of Lipstadt’s book, “Denying the Holocaust: The Growing Assault on Truth and Mem ory,” his academic work was increasing ly shunned by publishers and agents. Under British libel law, Lipstadt and Penguin had to prove not only that -- Irving distorted the historical record, but also that the distortion was deliberate. Lipstadt, who holds the Dorot Chair in Modem Jewish and Holocaust Stud - ies at Emory University in Atlanta, briefly hugged supporters after the verdict. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak sent his congratulations to Lipstadt “in the name of Israel and the entire Jewish people.” “Her struggle and victory is the victory of the free world against the forces of darkness that would wish to obliterate from memory the [depths] humanity reached,” he said in a statement. In an interview with Sty TV on Tues day, Irving denied being a racist and re peated his claim that Jewish deaths dur ing the Holocaust have been exaggerated. Gassings of Jews occurred, he said, “but on nothing like the scale that’s talked about now.” And shortly before the verdict, Irv ing said he had reviewed some of his the ories during the trial, but his basic posi tion remained that “the Holocaust has been grossly inflated and there has been a hell of a lot of lying by the eyewit nesses.” Jewish groups expressed relief at the judge’s ruling. “Today’s decision definitely places Irving where he belongs — not as a his torian, but as a leading apologist for those who seek to whitewash the most heinous crime in human history,” said the Simon Wiesenthal Center, a Los Angeles-based movement dedicated to victims of the Nazis. “Here is a man who carried out a se rious attempt to debunk the Holocaust,” said Rabbi Marvin Hier, the center’s founder. “But it is not the Holocaust that has been debunked, it is David Irving him self.” During the trial, Israel gave Lipstadt and Penguin’s lawyers the previously se cret memoirs of Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann, which contained methodical descriptions of the genocide, including timetables of death transports. “It is a victory for 6 million voices that cannot speak for themselves,” said Rabbi Jonathan Romain, son of a Holo caust survivor and a spokesman for Re form Synagogues in Britain. “It is a de feat for the Holocaust denial industry and the bigotry that lies behind it.” \ Thejiew CampusMji «nfer 'H hei Twwew&err* IfftHMteilW When: Wedne&fy, April ll & 8 pjn. 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