ON THE STUMP

	November 1, 2000
	A continuing series of excerpts from campaign speeches by the two leading presidential candidates.

JIM LEHRER: We begin with campaign speeches by the two leading Presidential candidates: First, Vice President Gore, speaking about Social Security this morning in Kissimmee, Florida. VICE PRESIDENT AL GORE: So often, too many people think of Social Security as a budget program or a program that's only for seniors, when actually Social Security is so much more than that. It embodies our values as a people. It links each American generation to the next with commitments of love and caring. Social Security is how we care for our mothers and fathers. It's how we give younger workers a bedrock of retirement savings that they can build on no matter what. It is a compact. It is a sacred trust. (Cheers and applause) And it truly is a compact that makes all our families stronger and undergirds the financial security of each generation in every family. My opponent talks about a commitment to today's retirees, but let's be clear on this. Soothing words don't pay the rent, much less buy prescription medicine. And even... (cheers and applause) even the sharpest campaign sound bite cannot bring into focus fuzzy conclusions that flow from fuzzy math. (Cheers and applause) I'm going to tell it like it is. He... Governor Bush is promising to take a trillion dollars out of Social Security, and he's promising it to younger workers for investments in private accounts. And to many, that sounds pretty good, but the problem is, that's the same money that he's promising to seniors to pay their current benefits. The "Wall Street Journal" looked at his plan and concluded that he couldn't possibly keep both promises. So which promise is he going to break? Who gets left out or left behind? The American Academy of Actuaries looked at his plan and concluded that it would lead to catastrophic results in these financial matters. He said that he... I heard him last night. He said he rejects their premise. Well, which premise, addition or subtraction? ( Cheers and applause ) Eight Nobel-prizewinning economists looked at his plan and said the numbers just do not add up. When he was asked to clarify how he could possibly make his numbers add up, Governor Bush refused and said that he would provide additional details after the election. That's fine; we're going to win Florida and it won't matter. (Cheers and applause ) With your help, we are going to win Florida. You know, you might say that on Tuesday, six days from now, Social Security itself is on the ballot. You will vote and you will choose, and I ask you to save Social Security when you vote on Tuesday. It is very much on the ballot. Governor Bush often says you should support him because he'd get along with people in Washington. And that's all well and good. We need less partisanship in Washington. But the real question is, who is it that he wants to get along with? (Cheers and applause) The special interests? The special interests who don't need Social Security and are perfectly happy to see it drained away? The HMO's, the insurance industry, the oil companies, the drug companies? Sometimes a President has to stand up and say "no" so that our families can have a better life. ( Cheers and applause ) JIM LEHRER: A correction -- that town in Florida where the Vice President spoke is pronounced Kiss-im-ee: Now, Governor Bush, speaking at a rally in Minneapolis this afternoon. GOV. GEORGE W. BUSH: I want to talk about a tax family that is with us today. The O'Keefe family. They're right down here in front. Dan and Laurie O'Keefe. They have got four wonderful children: Andrew, Oliver, Isaac, and little Anthony. They're here for a reason. I want to explain loud and clear what my vision for America does for people who are working hard to get ahead, the different points of view. This good family now pays $3,343 of federal income taxes -- $3,343. Under our vision, it says if you pay taxes, everybody gets relief, they will save $2,600 in taxes. (Cheers and applause) That's $2,600 more in their pocket. But this isn't any great gift. It's their money to begin with. (Cheers and applause) The surplus is not the government's money. The surplus is the people's money. It belongs to people like the O'Keefes. It's their money; it's your money. I know you've heard the rhetoric of this campaign about somehow we all stand on the side of the rich, that it's the rich and the powerful versus everybody else. We're going to reject that kind of class warfare in the year 2000. That kind of angry warfare has got to go. But I want to remind you who stands on the side of the people. Under the Vice President's plan, the O'Keefe family, the hard-working O'Keefe family, receives a whopping $100 in tax relief. (Crowd booing) Think about that. Look at the difference. We've set our priorities. We've funded the priorities, but we believe that government should be limited. It should do a few things and do them well. And, instead of spending that $2600 on bigger bureaucracies, we want them to spend it on their own families. We trust them with their own money. We trust the O'Keefes and we trust you. That's exactly the difference in this campaign. Our campaign believes the American dream is available for every willing heart. Our campaign understands that you change hearts and souls one person and one conscience at a time, that government can hand out money but what it cannot do is put hope in a person's heart or friendship in a person's life. Government can't make people love one another. The great strength of America lies in the fact that our nation is full of compassionate people, loving people. My job will not only be to bring a legislative agenda-- it's the people's business-- to Washington D.C., my job will also be to call upon responsible behavior by our citizens, responsible behavior by our government, to lift this nation's spirits but to understand where it starts. I understand that it begins, that should I be the one when I put my hand on the Bible that day, should I be the one that after all your hard work I earn the confidence of the great American people, I swear to not only uphold the laws of the land but to answer the calls of the hundreds who have come to our rallies and held up pictures of their children so they can look me in a eye and say, "Governor, I'm here to tell you, never again, never let us down again to hear those voices, to call upon the best of America. I will also swear to uphold the honor and the integrity of the office to which I have been elected so help me God. Thank you all for coming. (Cheers and applause ) God bless.