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| Bosnia held its first national elections since the Dayton peace accords. With NATO troops out in full force, few outbreaks of violence were reported during Saturday's balloting for a three-person national presidency, national and regional parliaments, and provincial councils. Indicted war criminal Radovan Karadzic had no trouble reaching the polls, but relatively few refugees crossed ethnic lines to vote in their home areas, and Muslims complained of Serb voter interference, especially during the earlier registration process. Overall turnout was estimated at more than 60 percent. Voting results, available later in the week, are expected to heavily favor the three nationalist parties--Muslim, Serb, and Croat. European and American supervisory officials spoke hopefully of opening a "pluralist dialogue" through the elected parliaments, but few thought even the facade of a unified Bosnia could be maintained if American troop withdrawals take place as currently scheduled at the end of the year. |
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Bob Dole steered his sinking candidacy to Capitol Hill in hopes of dissuading GOP candidates from deserting the top of the ticket. Instead, the press concluded that the need for the event confirmed that Dole was going nowhere. The Los Angeles Times noted that "more than half the Republican membership" was missing, reminiscent of the half-empty rooms that, in previous elections, foreshadowed the landslide defeats of McGovern, Mondale, and Dukakis. The Washington Post winced that Dole "at times appeared to be aiming his [reassuring] comments at himself." | | Hurricane Hortense threatened the Atlantic coast with a Category 4 haymaker before abruptly turning to the north. As of Friday morning, forecasters expected it to veer northeast and miss New England. The hurricane packed 140 mph winds. It killed 14 people in Puerto Rico by pouring more than 18 inches of rain on the island in a single day, causing mudslides and the worst flooding in decades. Rivers rose more than 30 feet above their usual levels. Hortense's march toward the United States dominated TV news for much of the week as the East Coast, still reeling from Hurricane Fran, braced for another blow that never came. |
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| A Columbia University study headed by former Health Secretary Joseph Califano blamed parents for their children's drug abuse. Baby-boomer parents who have tried illegal drugs expect their kids to do likewise, said the study, and don't consider it a crisis if they do. Parents quarreled with the study, insisting that while they expect their kids to try drugs, they won't tolerate serious addiction. Liberal editorialists concluded that by fingering parents, the study confirmed the folly of the government's military-style war on drugs and proved that politicians were blaming each other dishonestly for kids' drug abuse. But the Los Angeles Times noted that the study was promptly "seized on by the presidential candidates to blame each other for doing too little to halt teenage drug use." |
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| The Senate scuttled two gay-rights crusades, narrowly defeating a bill (50-49) to prohibit job discrimination against homosexuals and passing another bill (85-14) designed to block courts from requiring the states to legalize same-sex marriage. Gay activists declared victory in the discrimination vote, claiming that they had done better than expected. Moderate senators and editorialists agreed that the two votes indicated that the country is ready to treat gays fairly in the workplace but isn't ready to approve legal gay partnerships. Clinton repeated that he opposes "discrimination" against gays but will sign the bill against gay marriage anyway. |
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Ross Perot named political economist Pat Choate as his running mate. Coverage emphasized Choate's economic nationalism, indicating that his selection signals a shift in Perot's agenda from deficit reduction to trade protectionism, thereby competing with 1) Dole for Buchanan voters; 2) Clinton for union voters; and 3) Ralph Nader for the remnants of the left. The New York Times warned of Choate's "unexplored personal history" and proceeded to explore it, unearthing his "xenophobic" remarks about Japan. Newspapers scoffed that Choate has no experience in elected office and is largely unknown (people interviewed on the street weren't sure whether he was male or female), and noted that he was Perot's fallback pick after three politicians turned the billionaire down. Most agreed Choate can't do any worse than Perot's 1992 running mate, James "What am I doing here?" Stockdale. Meanwhile, Choate asked his mother to stop giving interviews after she told one reporter that his elevation to the ticket wouldn't "amount to much." | | The Dick Morris saga took several new turns. 1) Newspapers reported that Morris concealed his $2.5 million book deal from the White House by postponing the deal until 12 days after his 1995 Clinton contract expired, then refusing to sign a 1996 contract that would have forced him to disclose the deal. 2) Clinton spokesman Mike McCurry admitted that he had misled reporters by claiming that Clinton had "no knowledge" of Morris' out-of-wedlock child. "I didn't realize it was misleading at the time," he explained. 3) Morris entertained advertisers at a New Yorker breakfast. A staffer reported that with regard to his adultery with a prostitute, Morris "spoke in sweeping terms about how the American public no longer cares about these things," and allegedly told his inquisitors, "You journalists are the prudes in this country." 4) Morris denied that he had told the prostitute that Hillary Clinton ordered the notorious FBI files. He explained that he had actually told her that people polled by the White House thought Mrs. Clinton had ordered the files. Frustrated by Morris' denial, Republicans leapt at his admission that the White House had been taking polls on the scandal. William Safire embraced Morris as a victim of an FBI-files-abusing White House, touting Morris' claim that "confidential contents of his White House file were deliberately divulged by vengeful aides." |
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U.S. forces prepared for a major assault on Iraq. A second U.S. aircraft carrier and eight Stealth fighters headed toward the region as Iraqi forces fired missiles at allied patrol planes in the no-fly zone, missing wildly. The prevailing theory was that Saddam is waging a war of attrition, with Iraq taking military damage in exchange for splintering the Gulf War coalition. The strategy seemed to be working, as Kuwait and Saudi Arabia denied the United States permission to launch attacks from their territory. Meanwhile, American military commanders advised Clinton not to antagonize the allies by pounding Saddam excessively. | | Republicans grew bolder in criticizing Clinton's handling of Iraq. Jack Kemp demanded that Clinton explain his strategy; Jim Baker faulted Clinton for failing to bomb Baghdad and Iraqi troops in the north; House Republicans refused to approve a resolution supporting American soldiers in the Gulf until the administration had briefed lawmakers on its goals in Iraq. The press vacillated: The Washington Post demanded that Clinton oust Saddam, while the New York Times demanded that he withhold U.S. forces from combat, accommodate reluctant allies, and explain his goals before striking again. Critics argued that the adaptive maneuvering that helps Clinton in domestic politics cripples him in foreign policy: Whereas Bush declared his resolve to whip Saddam and arm-twisted allies who resisted, Clinton has failed to apply similar pressure and has alienated the Europeans by threatening them with trade sanctions to boost his domestic political standing. |
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Los Angeles Dodger Brett Butler returned to baseball after a four-month battle with throat cancer; his comeback ended five days later when his hand was broken by a pitch. The media hailed the center fielder's comeback as an inspiration ("Butler Returns for All of Us"), comparing him with Cal Ripken Jr. and George "It's a Wonderful Life" Bailey. The hand injury revived the story as it was fading from view, prompting a rash of nothing-can-crush-the-human-spirit articles: "Hand broken, but not heart," wrote USA Today. | | A new volume of T.S. Eliot poems was published in London. Scholars hailed the poems for illuminating Eliot's development, but British tabloids seized on a few poems that the Wall Street Journal called "almost shockingly filthy." Reviewers concluded that Eliot wasn't such a boring geek after all. The poems made the front page of the Guardian; the Journal pronounced them "the literary sensation of the early autumn publishing season" and mentioned that "the naughty bits" can be found in Appendix A. |
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| --Compiled by William Saletan and the editors of S LATE. |
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Photograph of Brett Butler, Al Bello/Allsport;
other photographs from Reuters
