Meet Bill Clinton. (US Presidential candidate) (Interview)

The news media have been full of articles about Democratic Presidential candidate Bill Clinton. But those articles haven't answered many of the questions on the minds of NEA members. NEA Today editor Bill Fischer and staff writer Diane Dismuke recently put some of those questions to the Arkansas governor in an exclusive NEA Today interview.

Their conversation with him revealed some new dimensions in the thought and character of the man whose education stance has secured him NEA's endorsement.

How does your 12-year-old daughter, Chelsea, feel about your running for President?

She supports my candidacy strongly. She's very interested in it.

Hillary and I were concerned about my running with an only child that age, but after a lot of conversations with Chelsea, we became convinced she was ready for it--but only if she could live her own life. She's participated in the primary campaign at the Little Rock headquarters and spent two weekends on the road.

Chelsea's just finished her first year of junior high, where she's very wrapped up in school activities. She plays volleyball on the school team. And ballet is a big part of her life--she goes to class about nine hours a week.

This summer for the fifth year she studied German at the Concordia College language camp in Moorhead, Minnesota. I think she might end up taking Spanish in high school and still studying German in the summer.

For many kids today, abuse is a real problem. How has the family situation you were in as a child affected you?

Like a lot of folks who grew up in an alcoholic home, my situation was mixed. I really loved my stepfather. He was a good person, but he had a disease he could never whip.

My experience made me very sympathetic to the problems of others. I can empathize with people in pain, people …