Clinton stumps for congressional Democrats, Gore in Kentucky

LOUISVILLE, Kentucky (CNN) -- President Clinton may be on the sidelines of the presidential race, but went on the stump on behalf of congressional Democrats on Tuesday amid a budget struggle in Washington and uncertain prospects for the national ticket.

Clinton came to Kentucky on Tuesday to campaign on behalf of Eleanor Jordan, a Kentucky state legislator seeking to unseat Republican Rep. Anne Northup. The two are in a tight race in the Louisville-area 3rd District.

President Clinton points as Eleanor Jordan smiles before his address to her supporters in the gymnasium of Manual High School in Louisville, Kentucky, Tuesday.

But if Gore's campaign has kept Clinton at arm's length, Clinton has used his appearances on behalf of Democrats to argue Gore's case, casting both the congressional and presidential races as a referendum on continuing the policies he credited with fostering the current economic boom.

"Are we going to build on the prosperity, or reverse course?" Clinton asked. "Are we going to build on the progress or take down the policies that led to that achievement? Are we going to continue to grow as one America, or are we going to have the politics of division, no matter how soothing the rhetoric is?"

The White House also distributed an opinion piece Tuesday in which Clinton urges Americans to go to the polls. Noting the struggles for voting rights at home and in countries abroad, Clinton warns that complacency bred of economic good times "may also be our greatest enemy."

"President Harry Truman once said, 'A vote is the best way to get the kind of country, and the kind of world, that you want.' There are great differences in the candidates this year; differences that will have profound consequences in the way you live," Clinton writes.

"So learn about the candidates, understand the issues, and allow your voice to be heard by voting on November 7. It's your future. It's up to you to decide."

Clinton's appeal was designed to be nonpartisan on its surface. But with the presidential race and many congressional contests too close to call, many campaigns see such get-out-the-vote efforts as the deciding factor.

"We will win because you have stuffed more envelopes, and you have licked more stamps, and you have knocked on more doors and made more telephone calls than you have made for any candidate before," Jordan told supporters in Louisville. "Let's turn out like we've never done before on November 7, and you will have made the sweetest history."

Outside Washington, Clinton's job approval ratings are high, and Democrats remain strongly loyal to him: But Vice President Al Gore is reluctant to call on Clinton's aid in most of the vote-rich battleground states for fear of losing independent voters.

"There's a middle group of about 17 percent who like him professionally and don't like him personally," Democratic pollster Peter Hart said. "Those are the people who are going to spell a major difference."

Some Republicans, such as former Reagan administration chief of staff Ken Duberstein, say Gore is hurting himself by keeping Clinton on the bench in the last days of the race.

"I am for Gov. George W. Bush, but it puzzles me greatly that they haven't employed what you would refer to as your thermonuclear weapon," Duberstein said.

Correspondent Eileen O'Connor and CNN.com Writer Matt Smith contributed to this report.