President Clinton Helps Hillary in New York

— -- Keeping his wife’s Senate bid atop his agenda, President Clinton continues to campaign in New York.

ABCNEWS.comOct. 23— Keeping his wife’s

Senate campaign atop his agenda, President Clinton continues to stump in New York today.

Following a full day of fund-raising and campaigning for first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton on Sunday, the president spoke at a rally for Mrs. Clinton this evening in Queens and later at a Democratic fund-raising dinner in Westchester. “We should be for Al Gore and Hillary because we want to keepthis prosperity going,” President Clinton said at a union hall inQueens in a joint appearance with his wife that raised $75,000 forher campaign.

He praised Gore for his work on making the federal governmentsmaller and more effective. Because of it, he said, “You’ve got the smallest government since 1960 doing more good for morepeople.” “We need someone like that to make good decisions and getthings done,” he said of Gore.

Speaking of the first lady’s first-ever campaign for highnational office, Clinton said: “She’s worked for 30 years on the issues that matter most for the people of New York.” With the president due to return for more events on Wednesday — including a birthday bash for the first lady — this week represents the most concerted effort he has made to help the first lady in her high-stakes Senate race against Republican congressman Rick Lazio.

The president, who has remained on the sidelines for much of her campaign, embarked on a solo fund-raising trip of upstate New York Sunday, joining Mrs. Clinton for two later events.

The Associated Presscontributed to this report.

Fiery Rhetoric from Mrs. Clinton

Sunday evening, Clinton’s presence at a rally at Hofstra University on Long Island seemed to bring out fiery rhetoric from Mrs. Clinton, who attacked Lazio for “fuzzy thinking” and blasted him for having served as former House Speaker Newt Gingrich’s deputy whip.

“Where is he living and who is he representing?” Mrs. Clinton asked, saying Lazio’s calls for political change disregarded the economic progess of the Clinton administration.

The first couple then attended an Elton John concert in Manhattan, capping a day in which Clinton’s fund-raising efforts were expected to haul in $490,000, giving a much-needed injection of cash to his wife’s campaign.

All told, he is expected to raise $700,000 this week, a significant boost to the first lady, who has less cash on hand than Lazio as the campaign enters its final two weeks.

Clinton has held 27 fund-raisers for Mrs. Clinton since January, although he did not make himself a visible presence on the New York campaign trail until September, when he made his first issue-oriented campaign event with the first lady. According to the Associated Press, Clinton has raised $5 million for Mrs. Clinton in a recent series of 15 fund-raisers.

The president also carried on with his long-distance efforts at Middle East diplomacy Sunday, at one point delaying a rally to speak on the phone to Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak.

Lazio Strikes Back

Campaigning in Syracuse this weekend, Lazio responded sharply to the presence of President Clinton in the Senate race.

“The Middle East burns and the president is flying around attaxpayer expense to campaign,” Lazio said Sunday. “I wish thepresident would spend a little more time signing bills to end themarriage penalty, to eliminate the death tax, to make sure wedeliver for New York.”

The Lazio campaign also seized on a remark President Clinton made on Sunday to raise the specter of carpetbagging again. The president had noted that Mrs. Clinton “understands” economic and social matters in upstate New York because of her advocacy work in rural Arkansas.

“Apparently, Mrs. Clinton’s entire candidacy is a result of a geographic error,” said Lazio Campaign Manager Bill Dal Col in a prepared statement. “If she can’t tell the difference between upstate New York and rural Arkansas, she has no business running for office in either state.”

The Lazio campaign also released a new television ad today trumpeting Lazio’s plans for the upstate economy.

In the 30-second spot, Lazio says his proposed tax cut will “givebillions in tax relief to create real jobs, right here.”

—ABCNEWS’ Stephen Yesner and Eileen Murphy and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Lazio Rips Hillary on Health Care

Ramping up his criticism of Mrs. Clinton, Lazio ripped his opponent’s health care ideas today, reminding voters of the first lady’s failed efforts to push health-care reform through Congress during the first term of the Clinton administration.

The GOP nominee for New York’s open Senate seat, trying to erase a deficit in the polls, his Democratic rival, who has never held elected office, for being insensitive to the nuances of legislative politics.

“It is very important for a good legislator to listen to criticism,” Lazio told an audience at the American Legion Hall in upstate Colonie.

“You had leading Democratic voices who thought it would be awful for New York,” Lazio added, citing retiring Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan — whose seat the two candidates are vying to fill — and then-Gov. Mario Cuomo as examples.

Lazio also unveiled a reminder of the bruising Capitol Hill health-care battle, dusting off a copy of a chart Sen. Arlen Specter used at the time that made the case that Mrs. Clinton’s plan was too complicated.

The Long Island congressman added that Mrs. Clinton “basically walked away” from her plan once it stalled on Capitol Hill.

As he has done before, Lazio claimed her plan to provide national health-care coverage would have cost New York over 72,000 jobs and would have damaged the state’s teaching hospitals.

Seeking to cast his opponent as a big-spending liberal, Lazio’s campaign also released a series of 60-second radio spots on the subject today, tailored to local upstate markets, claiming the first lady’s plan would have created a “huge Government HMO.”

Mrs. Clinton has not proposed reviving her ambitious health-care plan during the campaign, saying she “now comes from the school of smaller steps.” However, the first lady has promised to “go to the Senate floor with a plan to make health care affordable to every American.”