CLINTON TACKLES CAMPAIGN REFORM.

Byline: Kathy Lewis The Dallas Morning News

President Clinton called Friday for curbing ``the power that special interests have in our elections'' and urged a ban on contributions from noncitizens.

Traveling from California to Texas to New Mexico and then Texas again, Clinton discussed campaign finance reform after weeks of Republican attacks. But he referred only briefly to the ongoing controversies over Democratic fund-raising practices.

``We have played by the rules, but I know and you know, we need to change the rules,'' Clinton told a rally crowd in Santa Barbara.

Renewing his support for a pending campaign finance bill, he sharpened his rhetoric, endorsed a ban on noncitizen donations and portrayed Republican rival Bob Dole as a chronic and well-positioned obstacle to reform.

Before a rally crowd of at least 20,000 at El Paso International Airport, Clinton mentioned campaign finance reform only briefly. He urged Texans to consider the ``great consequences'' and ``clear choices'' in the election.

``El Paso, this is, as much as anything else, an election of the heart,'' he said, framed by a backdrop of Air Force One and Texas and New Mexico mountain ranges in the fading, late-afternoon sun.

Public-interest groups said Clinton had done the right thing in endorsing a Senate campaign finance bill. But they lamented a lack of presidential attention to date and questioned his commitment.

Dole scoffed at Clinton's remarks.

``Now Bill Clinton, four days before the campaign ends is going to tell you about campaign finance reform,'' Dole told a rally crowd in Columbus, Ohio.

``He'll stand there and talk about campaign finance reform and how he struggled to get it. He struggled to get it all right, he got a lot of it,'' the GOP nominee said to laughs. ``The president is not going to tell us anything. He's going to stonewall until next Tuesday when the polls close.''

Clinton waded into the campaign-finance issue four days before the election and after several weeks of criticism from both Dole and Reform Party nominee Ross Perot over Democratic Party fund-raising practices.

The recent debate over the issue also follows a two-year period in which the Democratic Party raised an estimated $106 million and the Republican Party brought in $121 million in ``soft money.''

These unlimited donations from individuals and corporations to political parties may be used for ``party-building'' activities but not directly on presidential candidates.

Critics say it is a back-door route for funneling money straight to the candidates. In recent weeks, the Democratic Party has been the target of a controversy over several fund-raising practices, including a large donation from an Indonesian couple residing in the United States.

Addressing the Santa Barbara crowd at an outdoor rally, Clinton acknowledged that the Democratic Party had raised money from foreign companies with U.S. subsidiaries and from foreigners who reside legally in the United States. Both practices are currently allowed.

But, he said, the Republicans had raised more - though ``that is not the point.''

Clinton said Dole had filibustered against five of the last six campaign finance reform bills and, before leaving the Senate, refused to call a vote on the bipartisan McCain-Feingold bill Clinton backed.

CAPTION(S):

2 Photos

Photo: (1) President Clinton speaks of unlimited opportunity to a Minneapolis crowd.

(2) Walter Capps, a congressional candidate for the 22nd District, left, joins President Clinton at a rally in Santa Barbara.

Associated Press