The president gets a mixed reception in La Crosse, 20 years ago

One of the most notorious quotes from a U.S. president in recent history happened 20 years ago today, in 1998, when President Bill Clinton said “I did not have sexual relations with that woman.”  Clinton denied an affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky, a statement he took back later in the year.  

The next day, the president gave a State of the Union address, and the day after that, January 28th, he came to La Crosse to make an outdoor speech to about 25,000 people.  A conspiracy theory arose locally, that the White House or Congressman Ron Kind arranged the La Crosse trip on short notice to get Clinton away from the Washington press corps.  But in reality, the presidential visit had been announced two weeks earlier…days before the Lewinsky story broke.  Many people argued that the president should not be allowed into the city, and somebody stamped out the message “Impeach” in the snow on Pettibone Beach.  
 
Clinton and Vice President Al Gore spoke at the entrance to the La Crosse Center, facing the Holiday Inn Express which was still under construction.  Presidential candidate Barack Obama would speak at roughly the same spot 10 years later.  Of course, the national media, including ABC’s Sam Donaldson and a crew from “Nightline,” followed Clinton to La Crosse for the speech…and “Nightline” would visit the city a few more times in 1998 to see whether local attitudes about the president were changing.  Twenty years ago, yesterday in La Crosse.