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This is it: Candidates give their last stump speeches of the '96 campaign.

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JIM LEHRER: We begin tonight this last of the campaign ‘96 with speeches by presidential candidates Dole, Clinton, and Perot. The first--Bob Dole at a rally in Houston, Texas.

SEN. BOB DOLE: We've been in fourteen states during this marathon, and we have three more to go, and we'll end up in Independence, Missouri. You may remember President Truman. They used to ask President Truman to give ‘em hell, Harry. He said, I'm not giving hell, I just tell ‘em the truth; they think it's hell. And that's what's going to happen. (applause) Our message is very simple: First of all, I trust the people. President Clinton doesn't trust the people; he trusts the government. Secondly, that 15 percent is across-the-board, coupled with a $500 per child tax credit, and there are a lot of those up here, a little $500 credits running all over the place. And then to stimulate more jobs and more activity in the private sector, we're going to cut the capital gains rate in half, 50 percent. (applause) And that is just phase one. Phase two is to have a flatter, fairer, simpler tax, and end the IRS as we know it. (cheers and applause) And as President Bush says, it's really about your children; it's about the future. The future's always about the children and the grandchildren. It's also, as President Bush said, about duty, about honor, about country, about integrity, about honesty, and if you see what's happening in this White House now, you wouldn't believe it. You couldn't write a novel to say all these things would take place in the Clinton House but they have. And every day there's something new. Today it's something new. But I tell you one thing, that I will not violate the public trust when I am President of the United States of American. (cheers and applause) These are values we learned as children. These are values we try to instill in our children, and I believe they're important. I've never known such arrogance in the White House--and I've been there a while--as I witness almost on a daily basis with a Clinton White House. They don't--they say, well, we play by the rules. They don't have any rules. They make up their own rules. They play only by their rules. And I would say the Republicans or Democrats or independents or members of the Reform Party, if you're concerned about America, you'd better be concerned about what happens tomorrow in the election all across America. (cheers and applause) And if you're looking for someone--

PEOPLE IN CROWD CHANTING: Bob Dole, Bob Dole, Bob Dole--

SEN. BOB DOLE: Thank you. If you want a President who knows something about service and something about sacrifice, I'll be your choice, and I'll be proud to be your President. (cheers and applause) And if you want a President who can work with Congress and work with the governors, Governor Bush and other governors across America, I know how to do that. Now what I want to do is dust off the 10th amendment, which is only 28 words in length--it's about the size of my stories in the “New York Times” on a daily basis--but--and what it says is this: unless the Constitution gives the power to the federal government or denies it to the states, it belongs to the states and to the people and to the people. Well, let's give America back to the people, back to the people right here. (cheers and applause) Let's do what we should do for our children when it comes to crime, when it comes to drugs, and we will do it in a Dole-Kemp administration. So I ask you, go to work, give us your vote, give us your support, check with your neighbors. If they're us, take ‘em to the polls; otherwise tell ‘em the election's been postponed. But we are going to win. I appreciate the fact that I know now in advance that Texas will be Dole-Kemp country Tuesday evening. Thank you very much. Thank you.

JIM LEHRER: Bob Dole speaking in Houston today. President Clinton was in Ohio this afternoon. He spoke at a rally at Cleveland State University.

PRESIDENT CLINTON: You know that four years ago when Ohio put us over the top on election night, when they showed that map of America, and then the Ohio map started blinking, and my heart started palpitating. And they said, Ohio has gone for Clinton and Gore, they have the votes they need to win the White House. (cheers and applause) You remember that. You took us on faith then. But now you don't have to. You know whether their approach or our approach works. This state is better off compared to four years ago in every way--more jobs, higher incomes, more businesses, a lower crime crate, lower welfare reform rates--we are moving in the right direction. Do you want to keep going, and will you be there tomorrow to keep it going? (cheers and applause) Your vote will decide what kind of future we build. Will you say--will every one of you personally say for my children, for their future, for our country, this is my responsibility, and I will seize tomorrow to build America's 21st century bridge, will you do it? (cheers and applause) I--I want to thank Sen. Dole for something. He made a great speech for my reelection the other day. You know, we had a report, we were at 10 1/2 million new jobs in the last four years, and then last week it came out that we had another 210,000 new jobs for 10.7 million jobs--faster job growth than any Republican administration since the 1920's! (cheers and applause) And when that happened, when that happened, Sen. Dole said we had the worst economy in 20 years. Now, why is that a speech--because just two weeks before he said we had the worst economy in a hundred years. Now, who else do you know who could make up 80 years in two weeks? We're moving in the right direction. We're going to the 21st century. We need to bear down and go on. But now, folks, I have done all I can do. It's in your corner now, and you must seize the day. You'll decide whether we balance the budget and protect our priorities and invest in our future, or whether we adopt their risky scheme and wreck our economy. You will decide whether they were right, or I was right when I signed the family and medical leave law, and they--Mr. Dole and Mr. Gingrich--led the fight against it. (cheers and applause) They said--they said when I signed it, this is a terrible thing, this will hurt the economy. Well, we know now 12 million people got to take a little time off from work when a baby was born or a family member was sick--we've had record new businesses, record exports, 10.7 million new jobs, incomes going up $1600 in the last two years alone. Family leave made us a stronger economy by helping people be happy at work because they knew their kids were all right at home. We did the right thing, and they were wrong. (cheers and applause) So you have to decide. I want to expand it because I think you ought to be able to take a little time off to go see your children's teachers twice a year and take your kids to the doctor. (cheers and applause) But they don't. Your vote will decide. Will you seize the day tomorrow and help us expand family leave?

CROWD YELLING: Yes!

PRESIDENT CLINTON: Will you seize the day and help us balance the budget?

CROWD YELLING: Yes!

PRESIDENT CLINTON: I have done everything I could. The responsibility now shifts to you, my fellow Americans. It is your country, your children, your future. I thank you for giving me the chance to serve. I ask you to--I ask you to think tonight--I ask you to think tonight before you go to bed about what you want this great country to look like. We are better off than we were four years ago. When we cross the bridge into the 21st century, if we stay on this course, we'll be better off still, and we will do it together. Look at your children, think of your future, seize the day to keep your country moving in the right direction. Thank you, and God bless you all. Thank you.

MR. LEHRER: President Clinton speaking today in Cleveland, Ohio. Ross Perot was also in Texas today. He spoke and took questions at St. Mary's University in San Antonio.

ROSS PEROT, Reform Party Presidential Candidate: Before you cast your vote, ask yourself what qualities the President of the United States should have because you're about to give him the most important job in the world. In a few years, you'll have sons and daughters. Right now, you are in this window, yourselves. The President of the United States can order you and in the future your sons and daughters to go to war. He can literally sacrifice your lives. Now, once you cross that threshold, I hope you'll get past the miscellaneous items and start thinking about the qualities and characters of the person you select. Shouldn't your President have the highest moral and ethical standards and be an example to our children and young people in this country? Ask yourself that question, please. Shouldn't his life make him a role model for your future children? Shouldn't anyone you elect to this office always keep his promises? These are pretty basic things. Most of you, I guess, are Catholics. You're in this great Catholic institution. And please remember that for any free society to thrive and survive, it must rest squarely on a strong moral, ethical base. Study history, and you'll see again and again that great societies collapse when their moral and ethical bases collapse. So certainly the person in this job should live in the center of the field of ethical behavior and hold himself to a much higher standard than is legal or illegal. The only question should be is it right or wrong? (applause) Thank you. And now we have a couple of questions.

MAN: The question we have for you to today is: What do you think about Sen. Dole's 15 percent across-the-board tax cut?

ROSS PEROT: If the 1993 tax increase, the largest in history, made sense, how can a tax cut in 1996 make sense? One or the other doesn't make sense. And yet we never force our people to say, wait a minute, pick one or the other but don't pick ‘em both. You and I both know, if you think about it that long, this is a free candy thing. Trickle down didn't work, and this is nothing more than a flagrant appeal to your emotions to get a vote. I don't want to appeal to your emotions. I want to appeal to your intellect and to your patriotism and to your logic to get your vote.

WOMAN: Sen. Dole mentioned the issue of drugs in the first debate. He suggested that in the past year President Clinton beared some responsibility for the rise of drug use among teenagers in the United States. Mr. Perot, our question is: do you feel that Sen. Dole is right in this claim about President Clinton and why?

ROSS PEROT: All right. The facts are--and this is from President Clinton--the Department of Human resources says that teenage marijuana use has gone up 140 percent in the last four years. Well, when you have the President of the United States go on MTV, where you're talking to young people, and say, yeah, I smoked but I didn't inhale, is that the kind of role model you want for young people? I don't think so. Then they asked him if he ever had another chance would he inhale, and he said probably yes. No. You need someone in the White House who makes it clear to young people how damaging drugs are. I promise you this--if I am your President, there will be one war--President--if you don't like it, you don't want to vote for me--we will have an all out war on drugs. In contrast, we've got $120 billion a year of drugs coming across the border from Mexico, and the word has gone out to DEA to kind of stand back because Mexico needs those dollars to stabilize the peso. Hell will freeze over and become a glacier before you ever hear anything like that from me. (applause) And being a drug dealer may be the best business in the old USA today. It'll be the worst business in the good old USA today, because I am not going to let people destroy their lives, and drugs are poison. And any of you who are just out there using it and whipping it and sniffing it and smoking it, and feeling good about it, please go to the library and get the data, and you'll say, my God, I'm destroying myself, and I could be destroying my children. In closing, let me thank you all for coming. It's been a privilege to be with you, and more than anything else, I want to make sure you all study the issues, go to the polls, and vote your conscience tomorrow. You have that obligation as one of the owners of this great country. Thank you very much. Great to be with you.

JIM LEHRER: Ross Perot speaking today in San Antonio, Texas.

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