Two Chopper Incidents Mar Clinton Florida Visit

By Wolf Blitzer/CNN

WASHINGTON (AllPolitics, Sept. 6) -- Not much was left of a U.S. Marine Corps CH-46 Seaknight helicopter that flipped over and burst into flames after landing at an Orlando airport Friday. It had stopped for a routine refueling. The crew members escaped with only minor injuries.

The chopper was in Florida to provide logistical support for President Clinton's visit.

A second Marine Corps support helicopter associated with the visit was forced to make an emergency landing after developing hydraulic fuel problems. No one was injured in that incident.

Clinton was nowhere near either mishap but they marred what has been a nearly perfectly scripted campaign swing through Florida. On Friday, he could boast of the lowest unemployment numbers in seven years and he could also comfort the American public in the aftermath of Hurricane Fran.

"We're going to do everything we can to help the people of North Carolina and South Carolina in this difficult time," Clinton said. (67K AIFF or WAV sound)

And he's still riding high on political points he scored earlier in the week as the nation's commander in chief when he ordered cruise missile strikes against Iraq. National polls show the overwhelming majority of Americans strongly support his actions. And a new CNN-TIME Magazine poll says a majority believes Clinton ordered the strikes mostly to promote U.S. goals -- not to help himself get re-elected.

At the predominantly black National Baptist Convention in Orlando, the president couldn't resist gloating over the latest drop in unemployment -- down to 5.1 percent. "The American economy, my fellow Americans, is on the right track and we need to keep it going in that direction," he said. (84K AIFF or WAV sound)

Clinton may be up in the polls, but he's urging his supporters not to take anyone's vote for granted. And his campaign is continuing to go right after Bob Dole.

From a Clinton television commercial: "...and to pay for [Dole's] risky tax scheme, experts say Dole and Gingrich will have to cut Medicare, education, environment. Bob Dole, raising taxes trying to cut Medicare. Running from his record."

One other sour note for the president was from his former top political strategist, Dick Morris, who resigned last week in a sex scandal. It now turns out that months ago -- while still on the campaign payroll -- Morris secretly made a deal to write a two-and-a-half million dollar tell-all book about his time with the president.

This story originally appeared on CNN's "Inside Politics."

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