CLINTON VISITS SOUTHERN ILLINOIS

CARBONDALE, Ill. -- Democratic presidential hopeful Bill Clinton ended a Wednesday campaign swing through Illinois with a speech on the campus of Southern Illinois University-Carbondale.

The Arkansas governor urged more than 1,000 people at the rally to reject President George Bush's "failed economic policies of the '80s" and vote "Clinton" in Tuesday's presidential primary.

Clinton, who arrived about an hour and 40 minutes late for the rally, chided Bush and Republicans for the economic policies of the past 12 years. He said the policies of Bush and his predecessor, former president Ronald Reagan, favored the wealthy while ignoring the plight of the "working man."

"What we got in the '80s was a stock market that tripled and an economy that went downhill," Clinton said. "What we got in the '80s was class warfare."

Fresh off a successful "Super Tuesday" primary where he swept six southern states, Clinton this week has turned toward the Midwest with campaign swings through Illinois and Michigan.

At SIU, Clinton quoted Abraham Lincoln when he said, "`You can never build up the poor by tearing down the rich.'

"But you can't keep making the rich richer, while ignoring the needs of the poor and working class," he added.

Clinton said great Republicans like Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt would "roll over in their graves" and switch parties if they could see the "unfairness" of current Republican policies.

"We believe this is still the greatest country in the world, and we believe we can do better," he said. "Do you want your country to win again? Are you sick of seeing your country divided by income, by gender, by race, by region? Do you want to make this country one again?"

The Arkansas governor said that when he chaired a commission that studied the plight of the poor in the Mississippi Delta region, he drafted an economic plan to address some of the problems identified in the study. But he said Bush has ignored the recommendations in the plan.

Clinton said the administration has failed to provide adequate leadership to improve education and economic opportunities for the nation's poor and working class.

"I heard (Vice President) Dan Quayle on TV the other day, and Dan Quayle's still belly-aching because Congress won't approve a growth package that George Bush didn't discover until three years after he took office," he said.

"If you make me president, there will be days when some of you or all of you will think I'm wrong. ... But the real issue is not whether there are miracle workers there aren't. The real issue is whether you're willing to roll up your sleeves, go to work, and make the changes needed to make this country great again."

Clinton said that if he were president, he would push for regulations that would encourage the use of ethanol and other natural resources, such as coal, to lessen the United States' dependency on foreign oil and help U.S. farmers.

Hillary Clinton, the governor's wife, also addressed the crowd before she introduced her husband. She outlined a number of his proposals, including a plan to revamp the guaranteed student loan program.

She said education is the "most important long-term policy facing America.

"What we need is a real education president, not what we've had a photo opportunity education president," she said.

Hillary Clinton said her husband favors full funding of the "Head Start" program, designed to provide pre-school education primarily for poor children. She said there's no reason why U.S. students can't compete academically with international students.

"Our kids in America are just as smart as kids anywhere in the world," she said. "They're just not being given the opportunity to succeed."

She said Clinton wants to establish a national apprenticeship program to give non-college students skills they need to compete for high-technology jobs in the United States.

Hillary Clinton said her husband also has proposed a "National Service Trust Fund" in lieu of the existing student loan program.

She said that under the program, students would be required to pay back student loans through payroll deductions or serve two to three years in some type of public service.