Los Angeles – Heralding Al Gore as “one strong leader,” President Clinton got a roaring, sentimental send-off from the Democratic National Convention as he yielded the political stage to the man he wants elected his successor.
Clinton’s Vice-President watched the convention farewell on television, preparing to join the president Tuesday in Monroe, Mich., to dramatize the passing of the Democratic mantle.
“Its a symbolic message thats more important than most of the words well be using,” Gore said, calling Clintons Monday night speech a great one. “Its a handoff, a passing of the torch.”
The convention is Gores show now, adopting his platform on Tuesday and installing his vice presidential running mate, Sen. Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut. Lieberman was meeting Tuesday with black Democrats, some of whom are concerned about his stance on affirmative action.
Delegates will formally vote Gore the Democratic presidential nomination Wednesday night. Then its Gores turn to take the convention salute as he accepts the nomination in its finale Thursday night.
But first, it was Clintons turn, a 41-minute nationally televised address celebrating his eight years in the White House and urging that Gore be elected to take over.
“In the most challenging moments, when we faced the most difficult issues, of war and peace, of whether to take on some powerful special interest, he was always there,” Clinton said. “And he always told me exactly what he thought was right. …”
“I can tell you personally, he is one strong leader,” the president said.
He saved a slap for Republican presidential nominee George W. Bush, although not by name, saying that ticket stands for policies that would “spend every dime” of budget surpluses on giant tax cuts, shortchanging needed programs the Democrats would deliver.
The Bush camp had an instant retort. “Instead of passing the baton, Bill Clinton used it to beat his own drum,” said spokesman Ari Fleischer. “The vice president remains in Bill Clintons shadow.”
Clintons speech drew wave after wave of convention cheers, in a standing room-only Staples Center sports arena, the floor and galleries a sea of red placards, “Thank you President Clinton.”
When he turned to the election ahead, Clinton prefaced his boost for Gore with a word for Hillary Rodham Clinton, “a great first lady” campaigning for the Senate in New York. She spoke first, for herself and for Gore and Lieberman. “They have what it takes, and theyll do what it takes,” she said.
The president said they “will keep our prosperity going,” deliver on Democratic commitments across the board. “The best is still out there, the best is yet to come, if we make the right choices this election year,” Clinton said.
Then his farewell line, three slogans echoing his own campaigns: “When you think about me, keep putting people first, keep building those bridges. Dont stop thinking about tomorrow.”
That was the anthem of his 1992 campaign, and the crowd sang it back to him.
The Democrats curtain: Seventy-Six Trombones, with a brass band and the cast of the Broadway revival of The Music Man.
In jarring contrast, a concert for protesters in their fenced corral outside the convention hall turned violent as the Clintons spoke. Demonstrators threw chunks of concrete and fired slingshots at police, who used paper-spray balls, rubber bullets and a horseback charge to herd them away.
The violence came as a crowd of about 8,000 began to leave a concert by the band Rage Against the Machine. Hundreds of them clashed with riot-geared, and quickly reinforced police. At least four people were hurt and 10 arrested.
Thirteen people had been arrested earlier in the day after protesters blocked a downtown intersection about six blocks from the convention site.
Clinton wasnt finished when the convention recessed. He went on to deliver an encore to thousands of Democrats at a mass party on a Hollywood movie lot. “The best way to validate all the work weve done is to win again,” he said.
He partied into the night with current and former White House aides, before his dawn flight East to join Gore.
The platform the convention ratifies Tuesday echoes Gores positions and campaign speeches. While it draws sharp lines against Republican policy on tax cuts, Social Security changes, abortion and other points, the platform also plays to the center with promises to balance budgets, combat crime, develop a limited national missile defense and promote free trade.