Clinton Campaigns for Democrats in Tough Races

EDISON, N.J. — President Clinton hit the campaign trail Sunday to lend some of his popularity to underdog Democrats in New York and New Jersey, telling local voters that the success of his agenda depends on their decisions at the polls Tuesday.

“Everything we do in Washington depends on whether it is supported, implemented and added to in state after state,” Clinton told a crowd of supporters of Jim McGreevey, who has mounted an unexpectedly strong challenge to New Jersey’s Republican governor, Christine Todd Whitman.

In a speech that was rousing despite the president’s hoarse voice, Clinton explained that he needs Democratic governors to implement at a state level the programs that he is pushing at the federal level. For instance, it is the governors who will help decide how to use the new money--$24 billion over five years--that Clinton pressed Congress to allocate for children’s health care.

“I trust Jim McGreevey to work with us to insure the children of New Jersey,” Clinton said.

The New Jersey race has drawn national attention because only one other state--Virginia--is electing its chief executive this year and the incumbent here is a nationally prominent politician and one of the relatively few women ever elected to run a state.

Polls show the contest is surprisingly close, in large part because McGreevey has been helped as conservative Republicans have opposed Whitman because she supports abortion rights. McGreevey has also gotten a lot of mileage out of attacking Whitman for New Jersey’s auto insurance rates, the highest in the country.

But on Sunday, Clinton stressed that McGreevey should win because he is committed to the same things as the president. McGreevey used the same theme during a speech introducing Clinton, saying he wants to provide to New Jersey what the “president has brought to the nation.”

“I would like to provide the same leadership, the same determination, the same hard work . . . to the office of the governor of New Jersey,” the state legislator said.

McGreevey’s supporters said the president’s help is important because their candidate is a relative unknown outside his hometown.

“This is a real shot in the arm for McGreevey because he’s not known in a lot of the state,” said Jan Conte, 49, a hospital administrator.

Clinton’s advisors said that although endorsements from national officials mean less in local races than they used to, they think the president’s effort could help.

“Presidential visits are like Chinese food. They fill you up, but they don’t last long,” said Doug Sosnick, counselor to the president, who was traveling with Clinton. “But since we’re coming in late, I think we can have an impact.”

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Particularly, Clinton’s advisors said, his participation can help motivate Democratic voters to go to the polls. This is important in another electoral contest that Clinton campaigned for Sunday: the race for the open House seat in the New York district that includes Staten Island and parts of Brooklyn.

A Democrat, Eric Vitaliano, is hoping to win in a district that has been represented by Republicans for 17 years. The seat is vacant because Susan Molinari, who held the seat previously held by her father, quit the House to become a television anchor.

The New York City mayoral race, which would normally pull Democrats to the polls, is not much of a draw because Democratic challenger Ruth W. Messinger is trailing far behind Republican incumbent Rudolph W. Giuliani. Clinton spent the latter part of the day campaigning for Messinger and helping her raise money. The event was the president’s fourth fund-raiser of the weekend.

At the Vitaliano event, Clinton appealed to voters at an outdoor rally at the College of Staten Island to make their votes count by going to the polls. “Don’t let the people who don’t vote determine this,” Clinton said against a backdrop of brilliant autumn leaves.

The Republicans have focused substantial funds and star power on their candidate in the race, Vito Fossello, spending nearly $800,000 on television ads and sending former President Bush and former Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole to campaign for him.

“Why has the other party spent all this money?” Clinton rhetorically asked the crowd. “Because they are still trying to implement the contract on America . . . [and because] they have opposed every single thing we have tried to do that has moved this country forward in the last five years.”

Clearly Clinton sees campaigning for off-year elections as a crucial way to broaden his own impact.

The more state and local officials who reflect his policy priorities, the bigger effect his initiatives will have on the country.

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In New Jersey, for example, Clinton stressed that he is counting on states and private industries to help him improve the network of child care across the country.

“I want to design a system in this country by the time I leave office where I can have confidence that people can succeed at home and at work, and that no one has to sacrifice being a good parent to do a good job,” Clinton said. But “we cannot afford to do the whole job at the national level.”

“This election is terribly important to me because the people of New Jersey are important to me, and because you can send a signal to the rest of the country about the direction that we have to take into the new century,” Clinton said.