EVEN though he is on vacation, President Clinton is being careful not to let the Republicans take all the limelight with their national convention.
As the convention opened in San Diego, California, on Monday, the Democratic President campaigned unofficially at a carefully staged event in the Yellowstone National Park, near Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
Mr Clinton, who has been on holiday since Friday, went to the national park to attend the signing of an agreement between the federal government, a coalition of environmentalist groups and a Montana mining company run by Canada's Noranda Inc.
Under the agreement, Noranda agreed to abandon a proposed mine a few kilometres from Yellowstone that was seen as a potential threat to the park, an important refuge for buffalo and bears. In exchange, the mining company will receive land worth $65 million.
The event took place as the President's comfortable lead in voting intentions appeared to drop considerably after the Republican candidate, Mr Bob Dole, chose Mr Jack Kemp as his running mate on Saturday.
An opinion poll conducted by CNN and USA Today had Mr Clinton only nine points ahead of Mr Dole, compared with to 23 points a few days earlier.
The President, who is due to return to Washington on Saturday, two days after the Republican convention ends, had insisted he would refrain from any political activity during his vacation. However, he still managed to get some media coverage.
Unconfirmed reports suggest the negotiations with the mining company had already been completed some time ago, which would mean the White House had delayed the announcement so that Mr Clinton could preside over the event, evidently timed to coincide with the opening of the Republican convention.
While the convention dominated the media, the Yellowstone ceremony did guarantee the President an appearance on the evening news and in yesterday's newspapers.
. Washington refused yesterday to comment on Iran's lawsuit against US legislation which allocates $20 million (about £13 million) in covert funds for "subversive" operations in Iran.
A State Department deputy spokesman, Mr Glynn Davies, said the Department had just received a copy of Iran's suit and officials would want to study it before filing a formal response.
Iran's deputy Foreign Minister, Mr Mohammed Javad Zarif, said Iran had also filed suit with the Hague based Iran US Claims Tribunal against a new US law imposing sanctions on companies that invest $40 million or more in Iran's energy sector.
He spoke at a news briefing in Geneva a day after filing the suits with the arbitration panel, set up under the bilateral Algiers accord of 1981 that ended the US Iran hostage crisis.