WHILE Mr Bob Dole's acceptance speech to the Republican convention was widely praised as "tough" but "lyrical in parts" and an ideal kick off to the electoral campaign, it has been condemned by one of President Clinton's closest aides.
Mr George Stephanopoulos said the speech was "the most partisan, negative and divisive" since that of Senator Barry Goldwater in 1964. No doubt the Clinton aide was also hoping Mr Dole would be on the receiving end of the kind of political landslide which swept Mr Goldwater away in that year as President Lyndon Johnson won practically every state.
The Republican contender's speech was praised for the way he spoke simply about his upbringing, the traditional values of small town America and the need for rebuilding trust. At the same time, Mr Dole delivered sharp criticism of what the Clinton administration is allegedly doing to undermine such values.
The presidential candidate drew a clear distinction between a Dole administration that would inspire "tranquillity, faith, confidence in action" and a Clinton administration he described as a corps of the elite who never grew up, never did anything real, never sacrificed, never suffered and never learned".
Too many Americans, he said, were without the money to spend on what they wanted because some genius in the Clinton administration took the money to fund yet another theory, yet another programme vet another bureaucracy".
But while promising simultaneous tax cots and public expenditure cutbacks, Mr Dole recalled the hardships experienced by his parents in the Depression era and said he had learned that "not every man, woman or child can make it on their own".
Aware of many middle class parents' dissatisfaction with the education of their children, Mr Dole trained his fire on this area, in which President Clinton fakes special interest.
Pointing out that the teacher unions had nominated Mr Clinton in 1992 and "are funding his re-election now", Mr Dole addressed the unions "When I am president, I will disregard your political power for the sake of the children, the school and the nation. I plan to enrich your vocabulary with the words you fear school choice, competition and opportunity scholarships."
Mr Dole also alluded to the fact that the Clintons are sending their daughter, Chelsea, to a fashionable private school in Washington while depriving some other parents of the same opportunity.
He was also scornful of Mrs Clinton's recent book on the family, called It Takes A Village. "After the virtual devastation of the American family, the rock upon which this country was founded, we are told that it takes a village that is the collective and thus the state to raise a child."
It is personal allusions like these which have angered his Democratic opponents.
The foreign policy part of Mr Dole's speech has so far attracted little attention, but it was also very critical of President Clinton who, it claimed, had "failed to provide adequately for our future defence".
Mr Dole got loud cheers when he sought to "pot terrorists on notice if you harm one American, you harm all Americans. And America will pursue you to the ends of the Earth. In short don't mess with us unless you are prepared to suffer the consequences."
Ellen Wulfhorst adds from New York President Clinton will be consoling himself tomorrow on the eve of his 50th birthday and raising some Democratic campaign funds with a star studded celebration at New York's famous Radio City Music Hall.
The gala is reminiscent of the 45th birthday bash thrown for President John F. Kennedy in 1962 at Madison Square Garden, when Marilyn Monroe delivered her breathily sexy "Happy Birthday, Mr President".
But this party will have none of that. The President's wife, Mrs Hillary Rodham Clinton, came up with another idea, a string of entertainers to represent each decade of her husband's life.
Crooner Tony Bennett will represent the 40s, rocker Jon Bon Jovi the 50s, Motown greats Aretha Franklin and Smokey Robinson the 60s, singer Carly Simon the 70s, country's Kenny Rogers and Broadway's Jennifer Holliday the 80s and country and western singer Shania Twain the 90s.
Actress Whoopi Goldberg will serve as mistress of ceremonies. Others on the celebrity roster are actors Ted Danson, Mary Steenburgen, Nathan Lane and Leslie Nielsen, comics Rosie O'Donnell and Tim Conway and poet Maya Angelou.
Barbra Streisand, one of the president's favourite singers, was busy making a film in California and could not appear, her publicist said. Others who cannot be there in person can participate via more than 80 satellite hook ups around the country.
Among the absentees will be Vice President Al Gore and his wife Tipper, who will join by satellite from a party of their own at Ryman Auditorium, home of the Grand Ole Opry, in Nashville, Tennessee. Mrs Gore turns 48 on the same day the president turns 50.