Budget: Going the Last Mile

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The House cliff-hanger was the prelude to another in the Senate. Early on Friday the Administration found itself still shy of a victory by just one vote, the holdout being Bob Kerrey of Nebraska, known among his colleagues as "Cosmic Bob" for his epic bouts of indecision. What struck White House officials most about Kerrey's resistance was what a senior Administration official described as the "inchoate" nature of his demands. Kerrey wasn't asking for anything specific. He didn't want a post office in Omaha or a dam on the Platte River. Instead he was advocating a more aggressive effort on Clinton's part in selling the country on a disciplined fiscal life-style, one involving less consumption and more investment. Kerrey urged that Clinton -- who had defeated him in the presidential primaries -- display more "spirit," more "energy" in preaching reform. The President, he said, should evoke the styles of F.D.R. and J.F.K. After delivering that message during a Thursday luncheon with senior Clinton advisers, Kerrey went to an afternoon movie, What's Love Got to Do with It. That prompted one waggish official to suggest that Tina Turner be enlisted to lobby the Senator.

Kerrey was enjoying his moments in the sun. His antechamber looked like the White House pressroom, with a dozen camera crews and a clutch of reporters seeking clues from Kerrey's typically elliptical ruminations. Sample: "This ((bill)) could be the first step towards something good or the first step towards something bad. This could be the first step to hell."

Friday morning Kerrey met with Clinton in the family quarters for a 90- minute chat that one official described as almost entirely philosophical. Kerrey urged the President to, as he said repeatedly, "connect." Al Gore joined the meeting briefly, and Kerrey spoke separately with chief of staff Mack McLarty. Later, Finance Committee chairman Pat Moynihan went to Kerrey to say, essentially, If you don't vote our way, this whole ball game is over: the North American Free Trade Agreement, health care, national service -- everything.

) At this point, colleagues were beginning to get fed up with Kerrey's coy approach. Said a Senate leadership aide: "A lot of people here really resent having to go over there to court the guy. We didn't think it was a perfect bill, but it was the best compromise that we could get." Two hours before the final vote in the Senate, Democratic Senators Thomas Daschle of South Dakota and Harry Reid of Nevada walked into Kerrey's office. Both looked grim. When they emerged half an hour later, neither was smiling. Asked if they were confident that the President had the votes he needed to win passage of his plan, Daschle said, "Not yet."

Soon afterward, two of Kerrey's staff members walked into his office, carrying bags of takeout Chinese food. Not much later, Kerrey called Clinton in the Oval Office; the President took the word of Kerrey's decision calmly and thanked him for his support. At 8:30, an hour before the vote, Kerrey emerged and said he was going to the floor to give his speech. There he took the opportunity to bash Clinton's bill one more time. "The truth, Mr. President, is in fact that the price of their proposal is too low. It's too little to watch the greatness needed from Americans now at this critical moment in their world's history."