CLINTON'S TROOPS TURN AWAY

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Anyone? Even a third-party candidate like, say, Colin Powell, who'd probably be as leery as anyone else about the notion of privatizing Social Security? "Maybe," says Michael Steinhardt, the hedge-fund guru who chairs the Progressive Foundation, which will publish the manifesto. Steinhardt is one of about two dozen wealthy Democrats behind the project, a roster that includes entertainment mogul Barry Diller; investment bankers Steve Rattner, Felix Rohatyn and Barrie Wigmore; and entrepreneurs Mitch Hart, who started Electronic Data Systems with Ross Perot, and Sandy Robertson, who assembled much of the California support so vital to Clinton's '92 drive.

Most of these bankrollers are backing Clinton, says Steinhardt, who identifies himself, Diller and Hart as the three most willing to walk away from Clinton right now. "Precisely because we could be washed out in a Clinton loss, I hope our 'third way' leads to a third party," says Steinhardt. "That's a ticket to irrelevance," Rattner retorts. "We should stick with Clinton as we try to remake the party." "But why support someone who's conned you?" asks Diller.

Al From himself embodies John Maynard Keynes' warning that the real difficulty in changing any enterprise lies not in developing new ideas but in escaping from old ones. "The problem for us and him," says From, "is that Clinton promised to be different. He's been that a bit, but the whole is less than the sum of the parts. The fundamental change he pledged hasn't come. We've been consistent in articulating the ideas he won on, but he hasn't been consistent in advancing them. We were at this before Clinton, and we'll be at it after he's gone, because a long-term majority will never be created around the interests represented by Jesse and the labor unions. Most people are politically homeless now. They're our target. We'll work to get Clinton to pursue us, but we're damn sure going to make it hard for him to catch us."

Which means what? "Al feels a loyalty to Clinton because he feels responsible for electing him," says Steinhardt. "But what we're planning is bigger than some psychological thing. We'll just have to see if Clinton buys our new stuff. If not, and someone else takes it on, then we'll probably fracture." Then Clinton will have even more trouble than he has already. ¹