Hillary Clinton, Rick Lazio embark on dueling bus tours

From Phil Hirschkorn and Frank Buckley/CNN

July 6, 2000
Web posted at: 6:01 p.m. EDT (2201 GMT)

BINGHAMTON, New York (CNN) -- U.S. Senate hopeful Hillary Rodham Clinton has taken her campaign on the road, embarking on a five-day bus tour that will be rivaled by her Republican foe, four-term Congressman Rick Lazio as the two candidates vie for voters' attention throughout New York State.

Hillary Rodham Clinton started her "Upstate Economic Tour" Thursday.

Dubbed the "Upstate Economic Tour," Mrs. Clinton began a trip through upstate New York on Thursday, visiting the central part of the state. Her first scheduled stop is a town-hall style meeting at a Lockheed Martin plant in Johnson City, just west of Binghamton.

Lazio's campaign swing -- aboard his bus, the "Mainstream Express" -- entered its fourth day with scheduled stops in Syracuse and Buffalo.

At a plant that makes avionics for U.S. military jets and also "clean" burning passenger buses for cities, Mrs. Clinton was expected to discuss her ideas for reviving the upstate New York economy.

It is the same plant she visited in June 1999, one month before forming her Senate exploratory committee.

"Last time she was listening. This time she will be talking," said Clinton campaign communications director Howard Wolfson.

Later, Mrs. Clinton is scheduled to attend a picnic in Endicott, before ending her day in Ithaca.

Lazio and Clinton are competing for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan, D-New York, and the campaign has taken a decidedly negative turn in recent days.

Late Wednesday, Lazio defended one of his campaign fundraising letters that attacked President and Mrs. Clinton.

"Hillary Clinton and her husband have embarrassed our country and disgraced their powerful posts," the letter said. "She covets power and thinks she should be dictating how other people run their lives," it continued.

Rep. Rick Lazio: "Hillary Clinton and her husband have embarrassed our country and disgraced their powerful posts."

Lazio, speaking to reporters on his campaign bus, said: "Frankly, these letters are written not by me. I'm not disowning it, but they're not written by me."

When asked how the Clintons had been a disgrace, Lazio said, "I think there are certain things they have done that are very, very embarrassing, I think, to the institution. I think most New Yorkers, most Americans believe that."

He did not specify what "things" he meant, and did not specifically address the scandal involving former White House intern Monica Lewinsky that led to the president's impeachment by the House in December 1998, saying only: "I never would have done what Bill Clinton has done."

As a member of Congress, Lazio voted in December 1998 for the two articles of impeachment against the president.

His campaign spokesman, Patrick McCarthy said that Lazio, who frequently says he is running on his record, was neither trying to highlight the impeachment votes nor hide from them.

"My campaign is about balancing the budget, keeping it balanced, lowering taxes ... making sure we help good teachers become better teachers, protecting the environment, providing prescription benefits for Medicare-eligible seniors and disabled. I meant these are things I am talking about," Lazio told reporters.