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With four days to go, the Presidential candidates were stumping.

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JIM LEHRER: We begin tonight with excerpts from today's presidential campaign speeches about campaign finance. The first is one given in California by President Clinton at a rally at Santa Barbara City College.

PRESIDENT CLINTON: When I ran for President four years ago, I said I wanted to give our government back to the people, I wanted a government to represent the national interests, not narrow interests, a government that would stand up for ordinary Americans. And I have worked hard to do that. When I became President, I barred top officials from ever representing foreign governments when they leave our service. I barred top officials from lobbying their own agencies for five years after leaving office. The days of the revolving door when top trade negotiators left to work for the very countries they were negotiating against are over. We passed the most sweeping lobby reform legislation in 50 years. From now on, professional lobbyists must disclose for whom they work, what they are spending, and what bills they are trying to pass or kill for the first time ever. (applause) I proposed a tough campaign finance bill when I came into office, but the Congress would not pass it. The Republicans have been reluctant to give up their access to big money. Led by my opponent, they filibustered the bill I proposed to death. In fact, campaign finance reform has come before the Congress six Congresses in a row, and my opponent filibustered it five times. He blocked the last one right before he left office. I supported a strong bipartisan bill introduced by one of my opponent's strongest supporters, Sen. John McCain, and Sen. Fred Thompson, and Democratic Senator Russ Feingold from Wisconsin. They've got a good approach. It's based on principles I advocated back in 1992. We should curb the power of special interests by restricting Political Action Committees and dramatically reducing the amount they can give to candidates. We should ban contributions from lobbyists to those who lobby. That's what I believe.

We should end the big money contributions to political parties known today as "soft money." We should ban corporations and unions from directly giving to parties to help federal candidates they can no longer help directly. And for the first time ever, we should restrict the virtually unlimited amount of money individuals can now give to parties. We should set voluntary spending limits for candidates, and we should give free TV time so that all candidates who observe the voluntary limits, but only those who observe the voluntary limits, can talk directly to voters. (applause) This is a good approach. It was endorsed by Common Cause and every other major reform group. It was bipartisan. It was tough. It was real reform. But my opponent opposed it. He refused to bring it to the floor for a vote, and after he left Congress to run for President, the Republican leaders finally allowed the legislation to come to a vote and then they killed it. There is one more issue that reform must deal with. Today it is legal for both parties to receive contributions from corporations that are completely owned by foreign corporations or interests and from individuals who live in the United States legally but are not citizens. Many of them have lived here many years and have employees and interest in this country. The Democratic Party has raised money this way, and so has the Republican Party. In fact, the Republican Party has raised much more money in this way than the Democrats. But that's not the point. It's time to end this practice as well. Now, McCain-Feingold would end all corporate contributions, so it would take care of that part of the problem. But we should also end contributions to either party from individuals who are not citizens. I believe only citizens should be able to contribute. That is not anti-immigrant; it is simply stating the fact--those who vote should finance the elections that they vote in. There is no more excuse for waiting. I tried to form a commission, but now is not the time for a commission. This is a time for action.

JIM LEHRER: President Clinton speaking in Santa Barbara today. Bob Dole was in Ohio, where he kicked off his 96-hour cross-country final campaign marathon. He spoke this afternoon at a rally in Ashland.

SEN. BOB DOLE: This is our first event in a 96-hour, non-stop march to victory. (applause) And this journey--(applause)--has started today at noon. It will end at noon on Tuesday, when I cast my vote in that great metropolitan area of Russell, Kansas. (cheers and applause) We got to get serious about this election, serious about who's going to occupy the White House, where the stakes are high. We're talking about America's future, your future, America's future. (cheers and applause) So we'll be taking our message, the Republicans and Democrats and members of the Reform Party and independents, all over. We're going to make our case all across the country, day and night, and we want to reach every worker and every family and every voter because, as I said, the stakes are so high.

We cannot afford four more years of broken promises and a new ethical scandal every week. (cheers and applause) Four years ago, four years ago, Bill Clinton said he wanted to be President in the worst way--and now he is. And now he is. America cares about the public trust and how someone conducts themselves when they set foot in the White House on day one, minute one, and hour one. (cheers and applause) So this election comes down to a few simple convictions. Just look at the record. Listen to the candidates, and what you'll see is a clear line that separates my vision of America from Bill Clinton. I know the President's giving a speech on campaign--if you can believe it--on campaign finance reform today. Apparently all the money's in and been counted. Now he can go ahead and make the speech. The receipts are in, okay. But what we've seen of this administration the last few weeks is evidence that we really need campaign finance reform. So, it's an idea that I suggested several years ago. We need a bipartisan commission because--let's face it--I'll be very honest about it--when we are in power, we want to fix it so it helps us. When they're in power, they want to fix it so it helps them. What we need is a bipartisan commission to fix it, so it helps America, helps you, helps you, helps you. (applause) And I would just lay out some ground rules I hope the commission will consider.

First, only U.S. citizens can make a donation to a candidate or a political party. If you're not a citizen, you don't participate. (applause) Second, abolish what they cal, this soft money that floats around. Third, end the practice of forcing Americans to give part of their paycheck to finance a political agenda they don't agree with. That's what's happening in organized labor now. A lot of Republican union members are being forced to give money to the Clinton campaign, and they don't want to do it. And they shouldn't be forced to do it. (applause) And fourth, abolish Political Action Committees. If we do that, we'll clean up the political scene, an I would say to Reform members--Party members in this state--you know, I know Ross Perot, but if you vote for Ross Perot, you might as well vote for Bill Clinton, because every vote for Ross Perot takes it out of our hide. If we're going to win--I can't beat two people--I can beat Bill Clinton, but not if Ross Perot takes votes away from me. So let's hear it. Let's do it.

JIM LEHRER: Bob Dole speaking in Ashland, Ohio, today. Ross Perot was in California today. He spoke at a rally at Stanford University in Palo Alto.

ROSS PEROT: Only in America would we have the President making a speech today about campaign finance reform. Now, the Indonesians, there's an Indonesian family. James Ryadi family, they gave $200,000 to the President in his first campaign. Um, the, the father is the head of the Lippo Group, a multi-billion dollar Asian conglomerate. This is the group that after Webster Hubbell, Mrs. Clinton's boss in the law firm in Little Rock, who came in as one of the attorney general's staff and then had to be fired for criminal misconduct and is now in prison and is one of the people that your President won't say whether he's going to pardon or not, now can you imagine having a man in the White House that won't look you in the eye and say, yes, I'm going to pardon him, or no, I won't. Let me tell you this. If I'm in the White House, if you can't do the time, don't commit the crime. And I don't care who it is, particularly if they are a person who's had all the breaks. We don't pardon people in high places. And anybody that breaks faith with the American people will do time. And let me say this: If I am your President and these ongoing criminal investigations go forward and people are arrested and convicted, you won't even have to ask me if I'm going to pardon ‘em. I can't think of any worse signal I could send to you young people and people all over this country than pardoning convicted felons. And if you ever get into the White House, or you're associated with people in the White House, and you don't maintain the highest legal and ethical standards, if anybody deserves to be punished, you do. Did I make myself clear? (applause)

But the Ryadis, who were one of a handful of foreigners invited to attend the inaugural party, he was the only foreign businessman given a seat at the Economic Conference in Little Rock right after ‘92, then a man named John Huang was given a position in the Clinton administration, and the Commerce Department, and given a top secret clearance, and in today's newspapers, they're saying, the White House would not let them investigate his Asian background. Mr. Huang raised--Huang raised a fund-raiser--$142,000 fund-raiser in a Buddhist temple out here in Los Angeles, and Vice President Al Gore was there just taking the money from nuns and monks, who had sworn a lifetime of poverty--(laughter among audience)--and just was stunned when he found out that it wasn't their money, that Americans had given it to him, it was a way of laundering money through a Buddhist temple. I promise you this--that no matter how bad things ever get, the last thing I would consider doing is taking a place of worship and engaging in criminal actions in there in order to get money. (applause) Now, the White House spends everything--everything they do--if you're not Stanford and smart and brighter, you're going to miss it because they make it seem so good. Vice President Gore standing there just like this says, I thought it was a community outreach program. (laughter among audience) And I've laughed. I've said it was a community outreach program. You were reaching out for illegal money in Los Angeles. Okay. If you tolerate that and put people like that back in office, you deserve what you get. And finally--and this is against the law--no ifs, ands and buts--for 100,000 bucks--have any of you ever spent the night in the White House? I got a deal for you. It's community outreach, right here at Stanford. (laughter among audience) For $100,000 to the Democratic Party, we could get you and your spouse a night in the Lincoln Bedroom, complete with breakfast and a Washington Post the next morning. (laughter among audience) Now we laugh because we're too old to cry, but let's think about it. You and I--you and I pay every bill in that White House, and some of them are pretty obscene, they're so expensive. Plumbers, electricians, factory workers, people sweeping the streets, people working their hearts out in fast food restaurants, send in the taxes to support our President in a regal lifestyle--everything there we repainted--we washed the windows, the whole thing. Do you think it's appropriate? It's against the law, but let's assume there were no laws. Where is the sense of shame? Where is the sense of decency? Can you think of anything more shameful than selling nights in the White House? I can't. And, believe me, that would never happen.

JIM LEHRER: Ross Perot, speaking in Palo Alto, California, today.

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