Hightower Lowdown

It's been a year since Bill Clinton's big, four-day, six- state "Presidential Poverty Tour Across America."

Remember the media blitz, the poignant stories, the touching photos ... and, of course, the political promises? From Clarksville, Mississippi, to South Dakota's Pine Ridge Reservation, from Hazard, Kentucky, to the barrios of L.A., the president was shown commiserating with some of our nation's most impoverished families.

The New York Times reports that the people of Clarksville, 40% of whom live in poverty, were real excited to have a president stroll through their hard-hit town. But a year later, despite Clinton's pledge that help was on the way, nothing's changed. "It's like the president never came," said a Clarksville businessman.

It was not a mirage, however; it was a hoax. Clinton used the poor people to get on TV looking like he gave a damn. Then he went back to the White House and did nothing. Oh, sure, he sent a bill up to Congress award- ing tax breaks to any corporation that would build a factory in Clarksville, but he hasn't spent a penny's worth of political capital to get even this pitiful trickle- down proposal enacted.

Meanwhile, neither Al Gore nor George W. Bush has addressed the needs of America's millions of poor people ... except to urge them to pray more.