GOVERNOR Bill Clinton of Arkansas was gambling yesterday that an extraordinary prime-time television confession of 'wrongdoing' in his marriage has salvaged his campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination. During a joint TV appearance with his wife, Hillary, Mr Clinton admitted his marriage had been rocky, but he denied allegations of a 12-year-long affair with a former Arkansas state employee and part-time cabaret singer. Ms Gennifer Flowers, the employee, last night held a news conference in New York in which she accused Mr Clinton of lying when he claimed they were just friends. She said: 'I was Bill Clinton's lover for 12 years. . . he is absolutely lying. I'm disappointed, but realistically I never thought he'd come out and admit it.' In response to one question, she said the local Republican party in Arkansas had offered her money six months ago to reveal her affair with Mr Clinton, but she had refused. She said she had lied to the press to protect him and that later she sold her story to a supermarket tabloid because he had angered her. At the press conference Ms Flowers played 10 minutes of tape-recorded telephone conversation she said was between her and Mr Clinton. Published excerpts of these tapes have so far proved inconclusive and questions have surfaced about her credibility. Ms Flowers maintains she met Mr Clinton in 1979 and 1980 at the Excelsior Hotel in Little Rock. But the hotel did not open until 1982. She also claims to have reported on Mr Clinton while working with a local TV station, but Little Rock's KARK-TV said it could find no tapes to support this. Mr Clinton, the early front-runner for the Democratic nomination, was judged yesterday to have taken a huge gamble by appearing on CBS's programme 'Sixty Minutes', which generally attracts more than 30m viewers. Although his campaign advisers said the sex scandal rumours were drowning out the Arkansas governor's message to voters, the risk was his confessions could draw further media scrutiny just three weeks before the critical New Hampshire primary election. Mr Clinton, 46, appeared calm and good-humoured throughout the interview. 'I have acknowledged causing pain in my marriage,' he said. 'I have said things to you tonight and to the American people from the beginning that no American politician ever has.' But in response to a question on whether he had ever committed adultery, Mr Clinton avoided a clear-cut response. 'I'm not prepared to say tonight that any married couple should ever discuss that with anyone but themselves.' He appealed to the US public for fairness and urged the media to respect his privacy, instead of turning the 1992 campaign into a 'game of gotcha'. Mr Clinton saw his popularity fall sharply last week among likely Democratic voters in New Hampshire, Reuter reports from Boston. In a poll by the American Research Group, which has conducted daily surveys in advance of the February 18 primary, support for Mr Clinton fell 14 percentage points in five days last week. The latest polling data put Mr Clinton in second place, with 25 per cent, to Mr Paul Tsongas, a former Massachusetts senator, who has 27 per cent of voters' support.
Bill and Hillary Clinton appeared on "Sixty Minutes" yesterday to refute charges by Gennifer Flowers, an Arkansas state employee and cabaret singer, that she and Clinton carried on a 12 year affair. Clinton denied the charges but confessed to "wrongdoing" in his marriage on the program. Flowers said the Republican Party in Arkansas had offered her money six months ago to come forward but she refused. She sold the story to a tabloid after Clinton angered her. Clinton took a big risk in the TV appearance just three weeks before the New Hampshire primary. Polls show he fell 14 percentage points last week.