Clinton's Economic Brain Trust

Back in June, with his campaign sputtering, Bill Clinton desperately needed to ignite his Presidential bid. The spark came from an unlikely source: a 22-page economic manifesto. Although it ducked the deficit problem and seemed a mite cautious, the plan was credible. Most important, it began to define Clinton as someone other than a traditional liberal determined to redistribute a shrinking pie. This was a Democrat, voters began to learn, who used words such as "growth" as much as "fairness."

If Clinton doesn't sound like Democrats past, credit the new breed of economic advisers he has gathered around him (table). Most members of this eclectic band of lawyers, investment bankers, management consultants, and decidedly nontraditional economists distrust the old Democratic faith in government management of the economy. Yet they're not willing to leave everything to market forces. They seek what they call a third way, one that mixes government activism with private investment.