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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 23, 1998)
Nation Monday • February 23,19! A bird, a plane, an Aggie! CORY WILLIS/The Battalion The Aggie Wranglers perform at the A&M basketball game on Saturday afternoon. Attack ads swarm over voters SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (AP) — To watch the television spots, you’d think late-term abortions and term limits are all that California’s central coast voters care about. Special interest groups are bom barding the airwaves with attack ads to sway voters in a hotly con tested runoff in the state’s 22nd Congressional District. At stake is the seat of late Democ ratic Rep. Walter Capps, whose death from a heart attack in October forced a March 10 special election. The race has received national attention not only as the first House election of the 1998 con gressional season but as a testing ground for the debate over term limits and abortion. Hoping to pad their 227-203 ma jority in the House, Republicans want to retake a seat they held for decades until Capps won it for the Democrats just 15 months ago. And Democrats, not wanting to lose any ground going into the fall elections, are hoping to go into the season one up on the GOR But it is the special interest groups that are heating things up as they test out issues-oriented ad campaigns that they plan to use to influence elections across the country. “We’re looking at other races right now,” said Connie Mackey, co director of the conservative Cam paign for Working Families. Mackey’s group already has spent $100,000 in the 22nd District, which encompasses Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties. The candidates are Democrat Lois Capps, the congressman’s wid ow, conservative Republican Tom Bordonaro Jr. and Libertarian Robert Bakhaus. Of the district’s 355,867 regis tered voters, 82 percent are evenly divided between Democrats and Republicans. The remaining 12 per cent are unaffiliated and consid ered a crucial swing bloc. “Those groups are exercising their First Amendment right, and diere’s nothing this cam paign or Mrs. Capps’ cam paign can do about those outside influences.” Tom Bordonaro Jr. Republican But it is special interest ads and not their opponents that the can didates often times appear to be running against. Mrs. Capps went on the defen sive last week, airing ads to rebut claims by the Campaign for Work ing Families that she supports late- term abortions, known as "partial- birth abortions” by opponents. Although a strong supporter of abortion rights, Mrs. Capps does not support late-term abortions ex cept in rare cases where a mother’s life is at risk or the pregnancy is “fa tally flawed.” She is running ads day and night defending her position. The Campaign forWorking Fami lies commercial urges viewers to vote for Bordonaro, who is anti-abortion. The group already has claimed some credit for Bordonaro’s victory over moderate Republican Brooks Firestone in the January primary, where it spent $100,000 decrying Firestone’s position on the issue. Another group, U.S.Term limits, is airing commercials in support of Mrs. Capps, although she said she does not welcome the help. "I consider this to be a local elec tion,” Mrs. Capps said last week. “It’s not like being a governor, it’s not like being a senator. It’s representing spe cific people, specific communities and their needs. To the degree we don’t stay focused on that and don’t keep these special interests out, then we’re destroying the political process, and we’re endangering democracy.” While she and Bordonaro agree that outsiders shouldn’t be manip ulating their race, they say their hands are tied. “Those groups are exercising their First Amendment right, and there’s nothing this campaign or Mrs. Capps’ campaign can do about those outside influences,” Bordonaro said. When the candidates talk with voters, they hear concerns about tax reform, health care and balanc ing the budget — not abortion and term limits, the candidates say. Amy Huerta, a 33-year-old De mocrat and single mother, said she would rather the candidates focus on how they will save Social Securi ty and improve schools. 01 Texas suspei refuses com appearanc SARASOTA, Fla. (AP) Texas man who confessed! fering $14,000 last year fa slaying of a mother oftpa plots refused to appearM judge Sunday and wasdi bond, jail officials said. Samuel Gonzales, 27, brought to Florida fromSai ; tonio on Saturday to faceai ; der conspiracy charge. I ie was set to appearl* Judge Barbara Briggs from Sarasota County Jailbutrei to go, jail officials said.Thei denied bond. I le had appeared inafe tonio court onThursdayarf mally agreed to be extra® Florida to face a murdercon acy charge in the Nov.7i Sheila Bellush, 35. Under a plea agreema Texas with investigator'- iyint expected to plead guiltyti Florida charge. Gonzalesp ed guilty in Texas in Decea to solicitation of capitaln in the slaying. Under the Decemte agreement, Gonzaleswfc a prison sentence of up: AUS7 years on the Texas charger sentence of 19 years ontheBimpi da charge. The sentences!) men’ be served concurrentlY. nt. \ He could have rtceivaWiliki prison for each charge. Vi i $ 3.95 pager airtime Aerial phones sold here Discount Paging System •Service Free Activation ■ •Accessories i 15th Annual Healthy Heart Run benefiting the American Heart Association presented by the A&M College of Medicine 10k, 5k, and 1 mile walk on February 28 at 9 a.m. Location: Reynolds Medical Building Registration forms at Barnes & Noble, Copy Korner or online at hsc.tamu.edu/admis/funrun.html ^4 M M Q M QB >4 Q iill M £8 n a 4 Aggie Hostess 4 n Informational n X X 9 Monday, Feb. 23 rd ® 9 Rudder 301 9 ■J 8:30 p.m. 6 9 "Recruiting the 9 « finest for the future ® O of Aggie football" || X X BP Call Kandace with questions d X 822-5390 fi « Congratulations ;e Class Sarah Alford Kate Augsburger Juan Benitez [CpL Nicole Brady Steven Dillingham Daniel Gieselmann Carrie Hahn Kristina Haugaard Mandy Hempel Kimberly Hightower Shawn Mann Chelsea McWhirter Amber Moncla Jason Neslony Stuart Petty David Pustejovsky Steve Reed Greg Rogers Nicole Scalise Jessica Young !x££2£ZZ3££= 7*233 LJni\s49raJty Visit our web site: http://www. howdyags. c om SCIENCE MON Feb 23 TUE Feb 24 WED Feb 25 THU Feb 26 CHEM 6-8 CH CH CH PRAC 102 PM 16, 17 17, 18 18 TEST RHYS 8-10 CH CH CH PRAC 202 PM 28 29 30 TEST RHYS 10 PM- CH CH CH CH 208 MID 27 28 29 30 BUSINESS MON Feb 23 TUE Feb 24 WED Feb 25 THU Feb 26 ACCT 6-8 CH CH TIGER* TIGER* 230 PM 2, 3A 3B, 4 PART 1 PART 2 ACCT 230 - CH 5, 6 WILL BE SUN, MAR 8, 6-9 PM ‘YOU MUST ATTEND BOTH PARTS OF TIGER MANUFACTURING! WEEK OF MAR 2 MON Mar 2 TUE Mar 3 WED Mar 4 THU Mar 5 FINC 341 6-8 PM OR 8-10 PM PART 1 PART 2 PART 3 PART 4 FINC 341 SEASON PASS VOUCHERS CAN BE REDEEMED MON, 4-5 PM. NEW SALES MON, 5-6 PM! SEATING IS LIMITED SO GET YOUR TICKETS AND TIMES EARLY! Don't miss this year's musical extravaganza COMPANY music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim book by George Furth Directed by 'magination Station's Randy Wilson February 26-28 & March 4-7 Tickets are available at the or at the Rudder Forum 8 PM SC Box Office, 845-1234 door INFORMATIONAL MEETINGS in 754 Bizzell Flail West -Monday, February 23 10:30-11:00 AM -Tuesday, February 24 3:00-3:30 PM -Wednesday, February 25 9:30-10:00 AM -Friday, February 27 1:30-2:00 PM Pick up an application at the meeting or drop by the Study Abroad Program Office. 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