Clinton Celebrates ‘Nevada Day’ with State, But Fails To Mention Coffin

Thursday, Oct. 31, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.

Clinton was flanked by Gov. Bob Miller and Sen. Harry Reid, who urged voters to help Coffin defeat incumbent Rep. John Ensign. Miller, Reid and other Democratic leaders recently lent some last-minute support to Coffin, who a poll shows is trailing Ensign.

Clinton, however, made no mention of Coffin during his 45-minute speech. The omission is consistent with Clinton's apparent efforts lately to distance himself from Democrats running for Congress, many of whom are considered more liberal than Clinton.

Instead, Clinton chose to hammer his usual themes of education and the economy and offered "Happy Birthday" wishes to Nevada. Nevada was admitted into the Union on Oct. 31, 1864, and government offices and schools take the day off every year in honor of the holiday.

"I suspect that this is the first time in our state's history that our admission day is being celebrated with us by the President of the United States," Miller said to a crowd of nearly 4,000, many of whom were school children.

Miller's comments were followed by a speech by Nell Justice, a Las Vegas mother of four children who offered her endorsement of Clinton and stressed the importance of family values.

Clinton read his laundry list of accomplishments for the crowd and continued his criticism of Republican challenger Bob Dole for the former senator's stance on such issues as funding for drug programs and tobacco advertising.

"In every single one of those instances Sen. Dole disagreed with me. That doesn't make him a bad person, but I think I'm right and I think he was wrong about that," Clinton told the cheering supporters on a sunny afternoon.

Clinton, who wore cowboy boots during the rally, said he grew up in a state where more than half the people have a hunting or fishing license, and he enjoyed target shooting as a boy.

"I know it was unpopular in Nevada when we passed the crime bill and the Brady bill," he said. "But we don't need assault weapons on our street. They're designed to kill people. ... Not a single Nevada sportsman has lost a weapon."

Clinton didn't discuss nuclear waste despite its importance to Nevada voters, but Miller made sure he reminded the crowd of Clinton's stance on the issue and Dole's failure to tell voters whether or not he would veto a bill allowing storage of nuclear waste near Las Vegas.

"Bill Clinton has shown to us in the last four years that he envisions a state of growth which would be free of truckloads of nuclear waste imperiling our health and safety," Miller said. "For 19 months, he has stated publicly that he would veto any legislation to bring nuclear waste to our state.

"Let me quote to you verbatim what his opponent Bob Dole had to say to the same question," Miller said. He then turned his back on the crowd as Dole did to reporters earlier this year when asked that question.

Clinton spent about 45 minutes after his speech wandering through the crowd, where he shook hands, posed for pictures and autographed memorabilia and even ran into one of his classmates from high school.

One woman, who squealed after shaking Clinton's hand, said she got up at 5 a.m. to attend the public rally at the Clark County Government Center amphitheater.

"We were the first ones in line. We brought sandwiches and coffee and magazines," said Lynn Strussenberg, a retired teacher's assistant who appreciated Clinton's plans for education-related tax breaks.

"If they had this I could have gone to college many years ago," she said. "Children today don't stand a chance if they don't have some kind of help."

Clinton flew to Oakland, Calif., after leaving the government center.