Democratic vice presidential nominee Lloyd Bentsen is fighting for votes in California by blasting the Republicans on labor issues and trying to show strength where the Democrats have a weak image: law and order. Bentsen today planned to visit Operation Safe Streets, a Los Angeles County Sheriff's Office program in the Los Angeles suburb of Carson to combat crime, including gang violence. The Texas senator has criticized the Reagan administration for cutting money to help local law enforcement efforts. He also planned to attend a rally today in San Diego before returning to Los Angeles for a dinner honoring California Assembly Speaker Willie Brown. On Friday in Bloomington east of Los Angeles, Bentsen attended a rally in a union hall to where he took part in the Democratic campaign to give 60 days notice to the Republicans before election day. Bentsen told the cheering crowd, many waving giant ``pink slips'' for George Bush, that ``We're here today to give the Republicans a better break than they give the American worker.'' ``Sure, we could provide notice the Republican way,'' he said. ``We could go there election eve and we could change the locks on the door. ``We could take the vice president's White House mess card and cancel that. And we could take away Air Force Two,'' he said. ``But we agree with the vast majority of the American people who say 60 days notice is fair.'' Bentsen, digging at Bush as he mined for California's 47 electoral votes, said the vice president has had many ``conversions'' on issues lately. ``He's like a successful missionary. He has a conversion every day,'' Bentsen said. ``But the only problem (is) he's converting himself. Last week he discovered the environment. This week he discovered the minimum wage and said well maybe, maybe it should be raised. And the next day he really wasn't so sure.'' Earlier Friday, Bentsen told farmers in Amana, Iowa, that Bush and his running mate, Dan Quayle, don't understand rural needs. Asked by reporters about Michael Dukakis' controversial statement during the primaries suggesting that farmers grow Belgian endives to help solve their problems, Bentsen said the Massachusetts governor now has a better understanding. ``I'm sure he does,'' Bentsen said.
