ELECTION 2000: THE GOP TRAIL

	February 11, 2000
	The next big test for the Republicans is the South Carolina primary a week from tomorrow. Both George W. Bush and John McCain have been campaigning there. We have snapshots of both. First, Governor Bush at a town hall meeting in Gaffney on Wednesday.

GOV. GEORGE W. BUSH: I like a good contest. And we're in a good contest in this state. But my message, as I travel all across this great state of South Carolina is if you're tired of the typical politics of Washington, D.C., where people say one thing and do another, you can come and join this campaign. I've been learning lessons on the campaign trail. I've been learning that I need to come and ask for the vote and that's exactly what I'm doing here in Gaffney, South Carolina. I want your vote. I want your help on election day. (Applause) And when you're heading to the polls, make sure you take your whole neighborhood with you. Make sure everybody shows up to vote. I want you to know something about me. I'm a battler. I'm not only battling for the vote, I'm battling for what I think is right for America. I strongly believe that our conservative principles will lead to a compassionate tomorrow. MAN IN AUDIENCE: Governor Bush, it's an honor to have you here in Gaffney today. I'm a self-employed contractor, and as I'm riding around in my pickup truck, I listen to Rush Limbaugh. (Applause) He's been for you for months and here lately, he's been giving John McCain a real verbal beating. But we all know that Rush is pro-big business, pro-tobacco, anti-abortion and anti-campaign finance reform. My question for you: Are you in lock step with Rush Limbaugh? (Laughter) GOV. GEORGE W. BUSH: I mean, my answer to you is, I'm in lock step with nobody, I'm in lock step with George w. Bush. But let me say something... (Applause) ...Let me say something. Let me say something now. I'm glad he's for me. I'd rather him be for me than for somebody else. Let me talk about campaign funding reform. You brought up an interesting issue, and I want to make it clear the difference in our positions. I want to make it clear the difference between what I think and what Chairman McCain and Al Gore and Bill Bradley think. I want to make it clear why there's a difference of opinion. First and foremost, I am for campaign funding reform, and I have been so since I started running this campaign. I'm for the abolishment of corporate soft money. I'm for the abolishment of all labor union soft money. And here's the difference. Here's the difference. (Applause) I want you to hear me on this now. Here's the difference: The folks up there, the three I've named, understand there's what's called a labor loophole where labor union bosses can spend a labor person's money the way they see fit, without any permission. I believe true reform will close what I call the labor loophole. A true reform will have a level playing field. A true reform, which I'm standing for, and I believe the Republicans are standing for, says that if we're going to have campaign funding reform, the labor union bosses should not be able to spend the working people's money without the working people's permission. And there's the big difference right there. (Applause) Yes, sir. MAN IN AUDIENCE: Governor Bush, what's your opinion on the Earned Income credit and Clinton's plan to expand it? GOV. GEORGE W. BUSH: Yeah, I'm against that. I'm against the expansion of the Earned Income Tax credit. I think the best thing for us to do is to drop the bottom rate from 15% to 10% and expand the child credit. If we're interested in helping people access the American dream of owning their own house and owning their own business or owning a piece of America, the best way to do so is to reduce the taxes on the people who work, make the code more simple, and make it more fair. I do not support the President's plan. (Applause) MAN IN AUDIENCE: Governor Bush, could you please tell us exactly how you stand on the abortion issue. GOV. GEORGE W. BUSH: I'm pro-life. I'm pro-life. (Applause) I will sign a ban on partial birth abortion. (Applause) I do not believe... (Cheering - people in audience standing up) thank you. Yeah. GOV. GEORGE W. BUSH: Very interesting question. The question is how do you keep in touch with the general public? Well, first, I'm not going to be making decisions based upon polls. That's one way people take in step with the general public. I just... (Applause) you know, it's like this tax cut issue. People say, well, the polls don't say it. You know, I know they may not say it, I don't really care if they say it. It's what I believe is right. It's what I believe is right. The principle is what's right. The principle is, it's your money, once we afford government, let's give you back some of your money. It also helps the economy. That's a principle that I believe in. JIM LEHRER: That same day, Senator McCain was at a town forum in Columbia sponsored by the American Association of Retired Persons. SEN. JOHN McCAIN: The question is what should we do with the projected budget surplus. I think middle class Americans deserve a tax break, and I support giving them one. But I believe that we have other priorities too -- priorities higher than those in Governor Bush's plan which gives 37% of his tax cuts to the wealthiest 1% of Americans. What are those priorities? I believe we should start paying down our $5.7 trillion debt. I believe we should earmark 10% of the surplus to shore up the financial soundness of Medicare. And I believe we should devote 62% of the surplus to Social Security. The projected budget surpluses provide us with a unique window of opportunity to shore up the system. We will lose that opportunity if we spend all the surplus or if we put it all in tax cuts. While almost all candidates have expressed some support for the concept I have set out, I'm the only one to back up the rhetoric with a solution over how to pay for it. That means I may not have as big a tax cut as George Bush's promise, it means I may not have as many federal spending proposals as Al Gore has promised, but it does mean, it does mean I won't be making political promises appealing to immediate gratification at the expense of solving the problems our country must face tomorrow. I promised the voters when I started this campaign that I tell them what I thought and what I'd do. I promise to provide leadership to address our country's most pressing problems as I saw them, and with the best solutions I could find. I promise to tell you what I believed even if it meant we would disagree. I've told you about my choices. I hope it helps you to make yours. I would be grateful for your support. Thank you very much. (Applause) MAN IN AUDIENCE: Senator McCain, my question deals with managed care plans. And there are many Americans who feel as though they're not getting adequate service. As president, what would you do to make sure these people receive timely and quality service through these managed care plans? SEN. JOHN McCAIN: When we have health maintenance organizations that don't give patients a certain fundamental bill of rights, then we have an enormous problem her -- and particularly in the case of some of the real fundamentals that we know that patients deserve -- because Washington is in the grip of the special interests, we can't give members of these health maintenance organizations a decent bill of rights. We could sit down in five minutes and come up with one: Right to see a gynecologist, right to emergency room care, right to a second opinion if necessary; the right to sue after appeals process has been has been exhausted. Look, we could work it out in a minute. Why do you think...why do you think it is that we haven't done that? It's because the legislature in Washington, the Congress is in the grip of the special interests. On the Democrat side, the trial lawyers want everybody to sue everybody for anything including class action suits. On the Republican side, we've got the big insurance companies and their monies and the HMO's, which are keeping us from coming up with a patient's bill of rights. MAN IN AUDIENCE: Senator, I would like to ask you if you think we can save Social Security without increasing the rates or the retirement age. SEN. JOHN McCAIN: Sir, time is not on our side. The reason why I want to put this money out of the surplus in it as soon as possible because as time goes by, the baby boomers grow older, the demographics become more and more compelling, one worker per two retirees by a certain year, the more difficult it's going to be. The sooner we get that money into the system, the Social Security Trust Fund, the sooner we allow people to make investments of their choice, then we are going to be able to do it. But I'll tell you this. I'm going to tell you things you don't want to hear as well as things you want to hear. If we're standing here ten years from now and we haven't done that, and we haven't done that then I'm not sure I can assure you that we won't have to, either change benefits or change eligibility or raise taxes. But I believe that we could do it if we act quickly. Sir. MAN IN AUDIENCE: Sir, this country is enjoying its greatest prosperity, the greatest freedom it's had for many years and I'd like to say at the expense of a lot of veterans, men and women, laying in grave yards all over this world and in our Veterans Administration hospitals, and walking the streets with disabilities, yet we have to buy an extended or a supplementary policy to supplement our Medicare. And I think this is a disgrace to this country. SEN. JOHN McCAIN: We are beginning to appreciate the enormous service and sacrifice, not only of all of our veterans, but particularly our World War II veterans who are leaving us, who are leaving us at 30,000 a month. And I promise you, sir, my highest priority-- my highest priority is to give that generation the medical benefits and care that we promised them when we asked you to go out and serve and sacrifice and seek and in some cases, make the ultimate sacrifice. I thank you, sir, and that's my primary commitment.