    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1994, Book II)]
    [November 8, 1994]
    [Page 2042]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    [[Page 2042]]

    Interview With Joe Templeton of ABC Radio
    November 8, 1994

    Midterm Elections

        Mr. Templeton. Good morning, Mr. President. After 8 days on the
    campaign trail, how do you see this midterm election shaping up?
        The President. Well, Joe, I don't know. You know, I must say, there
    are a lot of these races that are very, very tight. And the thing I want
    to say to the American people today is that it's important for us not to
    go to the polls in a negative frame of mind. There's been a little too
    much negativism, some places a lot too much, in this election.
        This is a very great country. I just got back from the Middle East
    peace signing. I am, again, captured by the idea that others know what a
    great country we have, that we have the capacity to seize our
    opportunities and to face our problems. We're trying to do that here; we
    just need to keep going forward. And we need to get out there, all of
    us, and vote today but to do it with a belief in our country, a belief
    in our future, a belief in our possibilities to make life better.
        Mr. Templeton. Now, if Republicans win the House and Senate, and
    many pollsters are saying that's a very good possibility, what does this
    do to your prestige in the rest of the term?
        The President. Well, I don't know. That'll be up to the American
    people to decide. But for most of the last 40 years, we've had divided
    Government. We've had the Congress in one hand and the Presidency in the
    other. The American people have kind of gotten used to that. So I don't
    know that it will make a great deal of difference in that sense.
        I hope that the Democrats who have taken courageous decisions to
    bring the deficit down and to get the economy going again and to try to
    improve education and make the streets safer, who have taken the tough
    decisions, will be rewarded for their courage and not punished for it.
    Because you know, we always say we want people to be brave, to ignore
    the polls of the moment, and to take the tough decisions that will get
    us into the future. I think it's important when those folks come up for
    election that we reward them for that and not punish them for it because
    of the barrage of negativism that seems to characterize so many of our
    campaigns.
        So again, I would just urge all the people who are listening to us
    to vote but also to do it in a positive frame of mind. Our country is
    moving forward economically, we are addressing the crime problem, we're
    addressing some of these terrible social problems that we've ignored for
    too long, and we're taking up issues that have to be taken up. They
    don't have simple and easy answers, and I think it's important that we
    don't give in to simplistic and essentially negative messages about
    them. We are a great country; we can do what we have to do, and we ought
    to try to do it together across party lines.
        Mr. Templeton. Now, you have been out there stumping for the
    Democrats for 8 days or so. Do you feel you've really made any headway?
        The President. Well, you know, you never know. When I was a
    Governor, I was never sure that the President did any help or damage to
    anybody in my home State. And I never thought, really, people would
    listen to me in terms of telling them for whom to vote.
        What I tried to do was to clarify the issues. I tried to put the
    record of our administration that the candidates I campaigned for
    supported; I tried to clarify the stakes and say from my point of view
    what our position toward the future was, what their position was. I did
    the best I could to do that.
        I think people are capable of making up their minds on their own
    about candidates. Every race is different; every State is different. But
    I hope I was able, at least, to focus the attention of the public in a
    more positive way on the choices before us.
        Mr. Templeton. Well, now they're talking about 70 million voters or
    so turning out today. I wonder if you voted?
        The President. Oh, yes, I did. I voted early. I voted absentee back
    home in Arkansas.
        Q. Thank you, Mr. President, for being with us this morning.

    Note: The interview began at 7:29 a.m. The President spoke by telephone
    from the Oval Office at the White House.