Wednesday, Sept. 18, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.
Are Bill Clinton and the Democratic Party the ones to lead the country into the 21st century?
Former Democratic vice presidential nominee Geraldine Ferraro and former White House Chief of Staff John Sununu offered differing views, to say the least, during a debate Tuesday night as part of UNLV's Barrick Lecture Series.
The two co-host "Crossfire," a fast-paced political interview program that airs nightly on CNN.
Ferraro cited a recent CNN poll indicating that Clinton is 15 to 23 percentage points ahead of Dole. Ferraro called it stunning that Clinton leads in key Southern states that are typically Republican strongholds, such as Florida, Louisiana, Arkansas (Clinton's home state) and Tennessee (Vice President Al Gore's home state).
If those leads hold, Dole is doomed, she told a crowd of about 1,200 at UNLV's Artemus Ham Hall.
Throughout the debate, Ferraro touted Clinton's achievements and commitment to the issues of importance to American voters. In turn, she criticized Dole for his lack of vision in addressing those same issues.
According to Ferraro: Clinton is for preventing crime, and the crime rate has decreased during his four years in office. Dole wants to address crime that has already taken place by building more prisons and making prison sentences tougher. Clinton has been the first president since 1840 to reduce the deficit annually. Dole proposes a 15 percent tax cut that is sure to raise the deficit or cut vital services. Clinton is pro-choice, supported the minimum wage hike and the Family and Medical Leave Act.
She quoted Pat Robertson of the Christian Coalition as saying "It will take a miracle from God for Dole to win in November."
Sununu countered that crime has been decreasing for five or six years and that the economic recovery began in 1991, under President George Bush. He said the fastest year of economic growth was 1992.
"Now the Bush recovery is slowing down into the Clinton recession," he said.
In November, he said, the voters will be giving an affirmation supporting traditional Republican principles no matter who wins.
"Bill Clinton's tough on crime," Sununu said, "trying to move the country forward, growth, wants to cut some taxes himself, for deregulation. (He) said in his State of the Union address that the era of big government is over, for strengthening defense, signed the welfare reform bill, which was very conservative. Every one of those issues is the traditional Republican platform."
Between "now and Election Day, the people will look at these two Republican tickets and say, 'Why should we settle for the carbon copy?'" he said.
Ferraro lashed back: "If you're worried about the Democrats consuming Republican principles, you should be more worried that the Republican Party is consuming the principles of the religious right."
It is conventional wisdom that when you are campaigning against a sitting president, you have to give the public a good reason to throw him out.
"I think we gave lots of good reasons to retire Ronald Reagan in 1984. The voters didn't agree," Ferraro said. "Despite Whitewater and Filegate, there is no good reason to vote for Bob Dole."
Before serving as chief of staff under Bush, Sununu was a three-term New Hampshire governor.
Ferraro made history as the first woman vice presidential candidate. At the time of her selection by Walter Mondale, she was a three-term congresswoman from Queens, N.Y. Today, she serves as the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Human Rights Commission.
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