Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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__Nation & World_ Gore, Hillary Clinton campaign together by Marc Humbert Associated Press ALBANY, N.Y. — Standing at a pulpit once used by Martin Luther King Jr., A1 Gore on Sunday said the Republicans who are trying to keep him from the White House are “morally blind.” The vice president, with Senate can didate and first lady Hillary Rodham Clin ton at his side, was campaigning for sup port among New York’s increasingly politically important community. In a sometimes impassioned speech to more than 800 people at a largely black church, Gore accused the Republican challengers for the White House of be ing blind to racism. “There are those who have 20/20 vi sion who are morally blind... some of those individuals just left the state of South Carolina,” Gore said, his reference to Saturday’s GOP primary drawing laugh ter from the audience at the Wilborn Temple First Church of God in Christ. Mentioning the Confederate battle flag that flies over the South Carolina state Capitol, Gore paraphrased a Bob Dylan song and said, “They looked at that flag and they turned their heads and pretended that they just didn’t see.” Calling the flag “that accumulated heritage of injustice,” he said the Re publican reaction reminded him of those who say racism is gone and that Ameri ca has become color blind. “They use their color blind the way duck hunters use their duck blinds — they hide behind it and hope the ducks won’t know what they’re up to,” the vice president said. Gore and the first lady, campaigning together for the first time this year in New York where Clinton is making history as the first first lady to seek pub lic office, had warm words for each oth er, and a few hugs. “She stands for the best values of New York state,” Gore said of Clinton, who is pitted against New York City May or Rudolph Giuliani in the Senate race. “Her voice will be heard. Her vision will make a difference... I will stand up for her.” “No one in America is more quali fied to lead us than our vice president,” Clinton stud. In a brief interview with The Asso ciated Press, Clinton said she was “just honored to help him in any way that I can. I was grateful for the chance to ap pear with him because I don’t get to see him so often now that he’s all over the country. “Wfe used to work together very close ly on a lot of issues... I’m very fond of him personally as well as very support ive of him as our next president,” she said. The three-hour service was part of the annual weekend conference spon sored by the state Legislature’s black and Hispanic caucus. It came a day before Gore and De mocratic presidential rival Bill Bradley were to debate at the Apollo Theatre in Harlem. After some handshaking, Gore took off for New York City where he was meeting with the editorial board of The Amsterdam News, a major black-oriented newspaper. The conference brings together hun dreds of the state’s top black and His panic leaders, who represent an increas ingly powerful voting bloc in New York state. Blacks and Hispanics made up 15 per cent of voters in the state’s 1998 elec tion for governor and U.S. Senate. A big test of that minority voting pow er will come in the March 7 primary, which is considered a major showdown for Gore and Bradley, a former New York Knicks basketball star. Both have made major appeals to mi norities in their bids for the Democrat ic presidential nomination. ‘They use their color blind the way duck hunters use their duck blinds - they hide behind them and hope the ducks won’t know what they’re up to.’ Al Gore Vice president While there has been speculation that Gore and the first lady didn’t want to be seen together as they work to escape the long shadow of President Clinton, aides to both Have denied that is true. One Gore adviser, speaking on con dition of anonymity, said last week that “for the next 19 days, she helps us tremendously. Her numbers are just off the charts with Democratic primary vot ers.” Some of those attending the service appeared surprised by Gore’s address. “It was the first time I’ve seen Gore really speak with some passion,” said Joseph Rhodes ID, 47, of New York City. • Springfest 2000 j • A Celebration • • • • for 5tu dents • j BEACH, j j PARTY, j iHOUSEsJ • • • Beach Week • • • • Classic Cottages • • I'lyrtlebeachtours.com! • • • Student Beachline * :i.800.7IU.8687: • • Russian troops tighten grip on strategic gorge BY ELMIRA KeZHAYEVA Associated Press Grozny, Russia — Russian troops are encircling Chechen rebels in a strate gic, snowy goige, trying to prevent the militants from escaping and ambush ing federal-heid areas, the Russian de fense minister said Sunday. In Chechnya’s capital, Grozny, meanwhile, Russian riot troops pick ing through bombed-out ruins clashed sporadically Sunday with tlie few rebels left in the city. Sappers defused mines that riddle roads, bridges and Grozny’s few remaining buildings. The Russians have occupied most of the breakaway republic after months of fighting. They seized Grozny after most rebels fled earlier this month and have squeezed the rebels into a few re gions in Chechnya’s rugged south. But die militants still have about 7,000 fight ers based in the southern mountains, and bands of rebels mount occasional attacks on Russian-held towns. Federal air and artillery fire is be ing concentrated on suspected rebel strongholds in the Argun and Vedeno gorges, Seigeyev said Russian warplanes and helicopter gunships flew more than 100 missions over the past 24 hours, mainly in the two gorges, the military command for North Caucasus told Interfax on Sun day. Militants holed up in the gotges —which cut south through the moun tains to Georgia and are a main sup ply route for the rebels — were re sisting fiercely but suffering heavy loss es in the Russian bombardment, the military said The rebel attacks are “signifi cantly less often than a month ago,” Chechnya military commandant Lt. Gen. Ivan Babichev said Sunday, ac cording to the ITAR-Tass and Interfax news agencies. The end of a 1994-96 war with Russian forces left Chechnya with de facto independence. But Russia sent troops into the territory again last Sep tember, after Chechnya-based militants invaded the neighboring region of Dagestan. The Chechens also are blamed for four apartment bombings in Russia in September that killed 300 people. The rebels held out for months in Grozny. But most of than abandoned the capital last month and retreated to the mountains. In Grozny, almost no civilians are visible on the streets. The military has sealed the city and forbidden all nonmilitary traffic inside until at least March 1. Russian officials say the cap ital must be closed to thwart possible rebel attempts to sneak back in and to give sappers time to defuse mines. Workers from Russia’s Emetgen cies Ministiy have been burying bod ies retrieved from Grozny basements, where most civilians hid during the five months of Russian bombing. Michigan from page A3 claim of being a reformer—all the while upholding his pledge to run a positive campaign. A Bush ad that criticized Mc Cain for questioning his integrity was a. response to a McCain commercial that aired in South Carolina but was not shown to Michigan voters. Appearing on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” McCain said Bush’s record on spending compared unfavorably with President Clinton’s. “Spending in Texas has almost dou bled, while spending under Clinton has been increased by 20 percent,” he said. At a rally in Livonia, he added that Bush had been a supporter of last year’s omnibus spending bill in Congress, a mea sure he said contained the “most outra geous pork barreling spending.” “I voted against it,” said McCain, who represents Arizona in the Senate. “Governor Bush said he’d support it and sign it.” To renew his appeal to independents, McCain criticized Bush’s record on cam paign finance reform in scathing terms. “Governor Bush is the governor of a state that has the most liberal campaign contribution laws,” he said. “If Governor Bush is a reformer, I’m an astronaut,” he said. He also said Bush takes credit for HMO reform in his state, when in fact, “he vetoed the bill once and allowed it to become law without his signature.” And by the time of his arrival in East Lansing, McCain had sharpened his mes sage further, saying, “who do you want, a big spender, non-reformer, or the guy with the record.” Despite his drubbing in South Car olina, McCain appeared upbeat through out the day. Sitting in cramped quarters aboard his campaign bus, he joked that the lucky shoes he wears every day have a new name: “unlucky shoes.” After a run of early primaries, the campaign was going national. Bush was airing ads in California, Washington, North Dakota, Virginia, Michigan and Arizona, McCain’s home state, which also holds a primary Tues day. McCain was airing commercials in Michigan, Washington, California and Virginia. Bush’s victory' Saturday night came as a relief to the front-runner’s campaign, which had struggled to reassure its al lies that the New Hampshire defeat was merely a “bump in the road.” The turn of events meant McCain once again found himself in the posi tion of battling uphill against a wealthi er, better organized rival, and this time with precious little time to recover. That made Michigan, a classic swing state in general election campaigns, a crit ical battlefield in the nominating contest, as well. As elsewhere, Bush has the over whelming support of the establishment, including Gov. John Engler. McCain has Joe Schwarz, a state sen ator, who twice mentioned Engler’s name at rallies—and twice got boos back from the audience. King had been flirting with an en dorsement for several days, expressing anger that Bush had campaigned at Bob Jones University in South Carolina, a school that critics say espouses anti Catholic views. “That to me just showed a willingness to take any road to the White House,” King said. • * Are coinmon interests. DiScOVER Hi ffQ niocoVER different views. Join CLubS. Meet fRienDs. MaKe New ones von n i ^ ^ ones, you never knOw what 7 ^ n i ^CollegeClub.com nD at CollegeClub.com. Log on! it’s all U.™ No porcupines, living, dead or otherwise, were harmed in the creation of this advertisement. $ » 4 -