Clinton Enters Race, Urges Citizens to Do More for U.S. : Politics: Arkansas governor, a moderate Democrat, vows he’d expand economic opportunity as President.

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. —  Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton declared his candidacy for the Democratic presidential nomination here Thursday, pledging to expand economic opportunity while insisting that citizens accept responsibility for their own lives and their country’s future.

“In a Clinton Administration, we are going to create opportunity for all,” Clinton told several hundred supporters gathered in front of the Doric-columned Old State House, where a display of American flags served as a backdrop. He then ticked off a list of specific areas for stepped-up government activity, from spurring economic growth and expanding world trade to reforming the educational and health care systems and improving environmental protection.

“But hear this, too,” Clinton added. “I honestly believe that, if we try to do these things, we will still not solve the problems we face” unless each citizen is willing to follow the admonition of President John F. Kennedy and “take some personal responsibility for the future of his country.”

Clinton rounds out what many Democrats view as the three-man top tier of the candidate field, the others being Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin, who announced last month, and Nebraska Sen. Bob Kerrey, who declared his candidacy earlier this week.

Two other nationally prominent Democrats also have announced their candidacies, former Massachusetts Sen. Paul E. Tsongas and Virginia Gov. L. Douglas Wilder, along with long shot Larry Agran, the former mayor of Irvine, Calif. Former California Gov. Edmund G. (Jerry) Brown Jr. also is expected to enter the race.

In a number of ways, Clinton’s address resembled the announcement speeches of his two chief rivals. Like Harkin, he stressed the need to reclaim “the American dream” and to restore middle-class values. And, like Kerrey, Clinton, who is still boyish-looking at 45, sought to depict himself as spokesman for the baby boom generation.

“I refuse to be part of a generation that celebrates the death of communism abroad with the loss of the American dream at home,” he declared.

Although he spoke disapprovingly of “Bush bashing,” Clinton joined Harkin and Kerrey in sharp criticism of Bush and the GOP, particularly on the issues of race relations and abortion rights.

“For 12 years, Republicans have tried to divide us, race against race,” he asserted. “They want us to be angry at each other so we won’t be mad at them, so we won’t look at the White House and say, ‘Why are all our incomes going down?”

In referring to Bush’s proposal for educational reform and the President’s opposition to abortion, Clinton said: “George Bush says he wants school choice even if it bankrupts the public schools. But he’s more than willing to make it a crime for a woman to exercise her right to choose.”

In addition, he chided Bush’s emphasis on volunteerism instead of government action. “Here in Arkansas, we worked very hard against very steep odds to create more jobs and educate our people, and every one of us in our own way tried to be one of the 1,000 points of light,” Clinton said. “But I can tell you, my friends . . . where there is no national vision . . . a thousand points of light leaves a lot of darkness.”

What mainly set Clinton’s address apart from those of his rivals was his stress on balancing government activity with increased citizen responsibility. This has been a main feature of the creed of the Democratic Leadership Council, a group of self-styled moderates until recently headed by Clinton.

“We should expect people to move from welfare rolls to work rolls,” he said. “We should insist on the toughest possible child support enforcement. Governments do not raise children, parents do.” And he urged that a student who drops out of school “for no good reason” should lose his driver’s license.

But Clinton coupled his demand for self-discipline by the average citizen with a promise to enforce the same standards on those at “the top of the totem pole.”

“Let’s not forget that the most irresponsible people of all in the 1980s were not the people on the bottom,” he said. “They were those who sold out our savings and loans with bogus deals and nearly bankrupted the country with mergers and acquisitions when they should have invested that money to create jobs and produce new products.”

To his admirers, that Clinton would one day seek the presidency has seemed almost inevitable ever since his election to the governorship in 1978 at age 32. He was then the youngest governor in the nation and the youngest in his state’s history. But the road that took him to the steps of the Old State House Thursday has not always been smooth or straight.

He suffered a major setback in 1980, when he was defeated for reelection. But he vindicated himself by winning back the office in 1982 and has held it ever since.

Clinton is most noted for his efforts in education, pushing through a reform program that included competency tests for teachers, sweetened by a pay raise funded by a new sales tax.

He seemed to be a likely contender for the 1988 presidential nomination, but he refused to enter the race, citing personal reasons.

When given a moment in the national spotlight as nominator of Michael S. Dukakis at the 1988 Democratic convention, he delivered a long, dull speech that, for a while, made him a national laughingstock. Then, in winning reelection as governor in 1990, he promised to forsake national ambitions and serve out his term, which in 1986 had been changed to four years from two.

But, as the 1992 campaign approached, Clinton’s role as leader of the Democratic Leadership Council increasingly drew him into the debate over national issues and the future direction of his party. Meanwhile, the failure of any other white Southerner to enter the nominating contest created an obvious political opportunity.

One source close to the Clinton operation contended that the governor did not make a final decision to become a candidate until about two weeks ago. That indecision may make it hard for his candidacy to get off to a vigorous start.

Operatives for the Kerrey and Harkin campaigns say they have seen relatively few signs of organizing activity on behalf of Clinton in the key early battleground states. His campaign still lacks a manager, although Bruce Lindsey, a longtime friend and political associate, temporarily will serve as a coordinator.

Another potential problem hanging over Clinton’s candidacy are allegations about his personal life, particularly charges that he has had extramarital affairs. No proof has been offered, and Clinton has resisted discussing the subject, contending that questions in this area intrude on his privacy and distract attention from substantive issues.

Clinton’s wife, Hilary, an attorney who heads the Children’s Defense Fund, is said by friends to share his feelings and to resent attempts by reporters to probe into this area. Reflecting her irritation, she told one Clinton aide in the aftermath of the abortive August coup attempt in the Soviet Union: “Suppose people had said to (Russian Republic President Boris N.) Yeltsin, ‘Come down off that tank and tell us about your mistress?’ ”

Clinton was embraced by his wife and their daughter, Chelsea, 11, at the podium Thursday before he began his speech.

In Washington, meanwhile, Rep. Dave McCurdy (D-Okla.) gave an upbeat assessment of his presidential explorations at a breakfast with reporters and said that he will decide within a month whether to enter the race.

McCurdy’s decision could have important implications for Clinton. “The right wing of a left-wing party,” as McCurdy described it, would suddenly be crowded with two Democrats likely to make very similar races.

McCurdy described Clinton as a close friend and said that he had encouraged the governor to run.

Staff writer Ronald J. Ostrow contributed to this story from Washington.