On the Road Again

Clinton gets rock-star treatment in the Bay Area as he delivers the message Democrats want to hear

By Carla Marinucci
Chronicle Political Writer

What began as a California campaign swing by President Clinton n the air of a farewell tour yesterday as tens of thousands of supporters turned out to cheer him in three Bay Area cities.

In Oakland, 8,000 crammed the downtown streets for blocks, greeting the president with chants of “Thank you, Bill” Hundreds more ‘jammed the windows of office buildings, bearing signs such as “Bill, you rock the free world”

In San Francisco’s Moscone Center, 2,000 waited outside the hall just to catch a glimpse of the president, and another 2,700 inside burst into cheers when Clinton went on stage and hugged Mayor Willie Brown. Among the sea of waving hands and Gore banners, signs read ‘We are your legacy” and “Clinton Country.”

In San Jose, a line of 3,000 Democratic faithful stretched around the block waiting to get a spot inside the Civic Auditorium to hear Clinton, who appeared alongside congressional candidate Mike Honda.

As the president’s motorcade wound through the cities, people lined the blocks, sometimes by the hundreds, with children in tow.

Republicans immediately seized on Clinton’s presence in California as evidence of Democratic desperation.

“Where’s Al Gore?” said Gerry Parsky. the Bush campaign chair in California. ‘1 thought Gore was his own man.

But the crowds who turned out for Clinton didn’t seem to wonder at all. The president got rock star treatment, mobbed for hugs and handshakes at each stop. Appearing to relish the work, he joyously worked the rope lines, leaning in to shake every outstretched hand, posing for photos and kissing babies as if this were a race lie himself needed to win.

Clinton rewarded the enthusiasm of Bay Area crowds with a vintage political performance that delivered the message Democrats wanted to hear. Unlike Gore’s more formal, almost professorial approach to the nation’s problems in his stump speeches, Clinton attacked the issues in simple terms — by turns folksy. dramatic and funny.

Throwing gentle jibes at the Republicans, punching the air with his fingers, Clinton distilled his argument against the Republicans into simple, spirited terms that turned into call and response from the audience.

“Do you want to keep this prosperity going” he asked, to which he crowds roared “Yeah “The president answered. “If you do, you only have one choice: Al Core, Joe Lieberman and the Democrats.”

Clinton’s trip, aimed at lending a hand to the Democratic presidential ticket, appeared to be as much a boost for him as it was for his vice president.

“We have an opportunity to thank him for eight great years" Brown told the San Francisco crowd. “He treats California as his home away from home.”

Clinton warned repeatedly that prosperity could easily slip away. Under the Clinton-Gore administration, he argued, “yes, the rich got richer, but so did the middle class. So did the working families.”

‘People ask me all the time ‘what great new idea did you bring to economic policy,’” he said, ‘and I said ‘arithmetic.’”

With polls in the rest of the country showing that Clinton’s help on the campaign trail could actually hurt Gore, the vice president’s campaign rejected Clinton’s offer to appear in battleground states.

But Democratic insiders and big donors like developer Walter Shorenstein, who elicited cheers yesterday when he called Bush "a carefree frat boy,” were said to be displeased with the Gore campaign’s decision to ignore the blitz of GOP TV ads, and to give the vice president only one stop in California during the campaign’s final days.

Some party officials were particularly worried about the effects on other ballot races and the effects of Green Party candidate Ralph Nader’s gains on Gore.

A measure of Clinton’s value to the Democratic turnout in California was visible in every Bay Area city he visited yesterday, as elected officials competed with each other to take credit for Clinton’s appearances.

Gov. Gray Davis repeatedly told crowds he called Clinton two weeks ago and told him, “I need you to explain in clear, simple terms how much is at stake next Tuesday.” In Oakland. Rep. Barbara Lee issued press releases saying the president had arrived at her behest.

Many of those who waited for hours to hear Clinton said they had come to say goodbye to the president.

“He’s always been a people’s president,” said Carol Johnson, a substance abuse counselor in San Francisco. ‘The country’s never been better.”

And Lakeisha Morgan, who stood on the rope line at the Moscone Center, said she has remained loyal to Clinton because he is “one of the people. He’s real.”

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E-mail Carla Marinucci at crnarinucci@sfchronicle.com