Lawton Chiles, Governor Of Florida, Dies At 68

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - Gov. Lawton Chiles, a folksy Southern Democrat dubbed "Walkin' Lawton" for crisscrossing the state on foot in his first U.S. Senate campaign, died yesterday. He was 68.

Gov. Chiles, who was found next to his cycling machine in the gymnasium in the governor's mansion, died of an apparent heart attack, said Linda Shelley, the governor's chief of staff.

Gov. Chiles was scheduled to leave office next month, to be succeeded by Republican Jeb Bush. Lt. Gov. Buddy MacKay, who lost to Bush last month, will complete Gov. Chiles' term.

The House Judiciary Committee, which approved a fourth article of impeachment against President Clinton yesterday, took a break to observe a moment of silence to honor Gov. Chiles.

"Governor Chiles was, I think, in most Floridians' eyes the epitome of a fine and decent man, a throwback to the age when partisanship didn't play the role it plays. . . . This man rose above party," said Rep. Robert Wexler, a Florida Democrat and member of the Judiciary Committee.

Gov. Chiles wielded political power for almost 40 years, including 18 as a U.S. senator and eight more as governor. The one-time state legislator championed health-care reform and closed borders, and unsuccessfully sought tax reform while governor.

He became a power broker as chairman of the U.S. Senate Budget Committee, uniting fellow Democrats against the MX missile program and Reagan administration budget proposals. He quit the Senate over congressional gridlock before the phrase became a popular political excuse.

He first won the governor's office in 1990 over Republican Gov. Bob Martinez. He scored his most impressive and hardest-fought election victory in 1994, when he stood alone in statehouse races among large-state Democratic incumbents against a Republican tide, defeating presidential son Jeb Bush in the closest governor's race in Florida history.

In the old Democratic style, Gov. Chiles survived on a voting coalition of blacks, retirees and the moderate middle-class throughout his career, even in the ascendancy of Republicans.

When it appeared his 1994 re-election effort was doomed with weeks left in the campaign, Gov. Chiles reached back to his roots and dubbed himself the "he-coon." The Southern reference to the oldest, wisest raccoon in the pack played off Bush's status as a political novice with a plastic image.

Gov. Chiles repeatedly capitalized on populist sentiment with his length-of-the-state walk in 1970, his self-imposed $100 limit on campaign contributions in the 1990 governor's race and an early attack on the breadth of government agencies and their regulations.

As an unknown state legislator from Polk County, he became "Walkin' Lawton" by walking more than 1,000 miles from the Panhandle to south Florida in three months. Gov. Chiles also made well-publicized walks in his subsequent campaigns.

In one of his few political setbacks, he was unable to unseat Robert Byrd as Senate minority leader in 1984.

He pressed health-care reform before it made the national agenda and after enthusiasm waned, emphasizing coverage for the uninsured and leading a campaign to create the National Commission for Prevention of Infant Mortality in the late 1980s.

He fought for regional health-care alliances in 1994, which allow small businesses to pool their health-care dollars and broaden their coverage while saving money.

Missteps early in his first term left the governor questioning himself as his standing with voters dropped dramatically.

He was unable to achieve tax reform, one of his prime goals, but created a Department of Elderly Affairs and reorganized several state agencies.

"In the first few months of that first year, I think Lawton had said to himself, `What did I do?' " said former state Democratic Party chairman Charles Whitehead. "He'd gotten out of the rat race and then gotten back in."

His political career was punctuated by major illnesses. He underwent quadruple-bypass surgery in 1985, used the antidepressant Prozac after he was diagnosed with depression in 1989 and suffered a minor stroke in July 1995.

Although his life was politics, Gov. Chiles became wealthy as an original investor in Red Lobster restaurants.

The Lakeland native served as an Army artillery officer in the Korean War and received his undergraduate and law degrees from the University of Florida.

He is survived by his wife, Rhea, and four adult children.