Clinton Unveils Breast Cancer Initiatives

Dole Continues Attacks On President's Record

WASHINGTON (AllPolitics, Oct. 27) -- President Bill Clinton announced new initiatives for breast cancer research and cancer survivors during an outdoor ceremony at the White House Sunday before setting off on a campaign jaunt through Virginia and Tennessee.

The country is "only as strong as our families' health," said Clinton, who was joined in the Rose Garden by cancer survivors.

"We are making progress," the president said. "The survival rate has gone up."

But more must be done, he said. His three new initiatives:

Provide $30 million for research into the genetics of breast cancer.
Create a new breast cancer information site on the World Wide Web.
Authorize the National Cancer Institute to create a new Office of Cancer Survivorship.

After the ceremony, Clinton rejoined to the campaign trail, armed with an endorsement from The New York Times. He had taken a day-long break Saturday to celebrate Hillary Rodham Clinton's 49th birthday.

The Times endorsed Clinton Sunday despite acknowledging that "many Americans do not trust" the president.

"The choice of Mr. Clinton is easier because of Mr. Dole's halting campaign," The Times said. "Neither his 15 percent tax cut nor his wild charge that newspapers have pulled their punches on Whitewater stands the test of logic."

In California on Saturday, Republican candidate Bob Dole continued his attacks on the president's record, urging him to "confess" the administration's mistakes and ask the American people for mercy and forgiveness.

The former Senate Majority Leader also pledged to end both affirmative action and health care for illegal immigrants.

"You come to America with AIDS, you're entitled to medical treatment. This is going to stop," Dole said at a campaign rally in Selma. "Legal immigration is one thing -- illegal immigration is entirely something else."

Dole also condemned Clinton for his veto of a ban on some late-term abortions, and borrowed a sentiment from former rival Pat Buchanan's 1992 Republican convention speech.

"We're in a fight again for the heart and soul of America in 1996," he said, comparing the battle for the White House to his participation in World War II.

Dole is scheduled to stump for votes from San Jose to San Diego Sunday, including a chance to sway some high-tech voters in Silicon Valley.

Reform Party candidate Ross Perot campaigned in Ohio on Saturday, telling audiences that a vote for him would be a vote to end corruption in the White House. He pressed a similar theme -- the character of the president -- Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press."

"Why is there no outrage and where is our sense of decency in this country regarding having a president who has the strongest possible character?" Perot said.

Perot denied rumors that he would drop out of the race to endorse Dole, and said that he urged Americans to go the polls and cast Reform Party ballots.

"If the American people would get the facts ... they only really have one choice," he said. "And that's to go with the Reform Party because we are not bought and paid for by the special interests. We belong to the American people." (180K WAV sound - Courtesy NBC)

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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