CLINTON BEGINS FINAL LAP.

Byline: William Neikirk Chicago Tribune 

President Clinton took off Wednesday on the final marathon run of his political career, a 20-city tour in which he will twice loop the continental United States before Election Day.

He is running like a man facing a double-digit deficit in the polls and with precious little time to close the gap - as if he is his own challenger.

His advisers say he loves it.

``He is clearly the driving force of this schedule,'' said Deputy Campaign Manager Ann Lewis. ``You could not impose a schedule like this on an unwilling candidate.''

There is a bit of strategy involved. The 50-year-old Clinton clearly wants to demonstrate that he can survive a rugged schedule more easily than Bob Dole, his 73-year-old challenger.

In launching his stretch drive in Michigan, a battleground state where he is ahead in the polls, Clinton stuck to the campaign formula that has worked so well for him this year. He made a modest announcement to help spur small businesses, contrasted himself with the Republican Congress, and took some light jabs at Dole.

He was happy to see that the government had reported earlier in the day that the economy grew by 2.2 percent in the third quarter - not spectacular, but enough to give him ammunition to fend off Dole's charge that the economy is in bad shape.

Clinton used the speech to announce the launch of a new Internet computer network to link small-business entrepreneurs with investors and expansion of a program to help women entrepreneurs go into business.

While such initiatives are modest, they help him give voters something concrete and to appeal to women voters, who support him by a large margin.

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PHOTO President Clinton points to the crowd as he arrives for a rally at Eastern Michigan University in Ypsilanti, Mich.

Associated Press