Copyright 2000 Star Tribune
Star Tribune
(Minneapolis, MN)
August 18, 2000, Friday, Metro Edition
SECTION: NEWS; Pg. 1A
LENGTH: 1189 words
HEADLINE:
'I will fight for you';
Gore delivers some populist punches in his
acceptance speech;
"I stand here tonight as my own man," Gore declared as he
detailed his position on issues from education to the economy, emphasizing
prosperity for all and a pledge to stand up for working families.
BYLINE: Tom Hamburger; Staff Writer
DATELINE: Los Angeles, Calif.
BODY:
Mixing pugnacious populism with detailed
policy proposals, Al Gore accepted the Democratic nomination for president
Thursday with a rousing speech that linked his political priorities to his
personal past.
The speech, designed to turn
around lagging performance in opinion polls and public perception of his
personality, had a heavy emphasis on the benefits of the booming economy and the
continuing worries of working families, but also on the
personal.
"I know my own imperfections," he told
roaring, foot-stomping delegates. " . . . If you entrust me with the presidency,
I know I won't always be the most exciting politician. But I pledge to you
tonight, I will work for you every day and I will never let you down."
He associated himself with the Clinton administration's
economic success. But Gore also took pains to declare himself independent.
"I stand here tonight as my own man," Gore said.
"And I want you to know me for who I truly am."
President Clinton left the convention Monday
night, but the darker side of Clinton's legacy continued to haunt Democrats
Thursday with reports that a new federal grand jury had been empaneled in
Washington to hear evidence in the Monica Lewinsky scandal.
"We're entering a new time. We're electing a new
president," Gore told the prime-time television audience, seeking to shake his
connection to that part of Clinton's record. He also used Thursday night's
program to showcase his close relationship with his children and his wife,
Tipper, and to emphasize the importance of family.
Even when it came to the booming economy, Gore
set his own path.
"This election is not an award
for past performance," the vice president declared. "I am not asking you to vote
for me on the basis of the economy we have. I ask for your support on the basis
of the better, fairer, more prosperous America we can build together."
Contrasting himself with Republicans, Gore
emphasized his concern for working families in nearly every area that is part of
this year's political debate. And he promised no less than 12 times that he
would fight for those families.
"Together, let's
make sure that our prosperity enriches not just the few, but all working
families," Gore told the more than 4,000 whistling and cheering delegates,
waving American flags and blue and white Gore pennants.
The success of Gore's speech across the country
will not be gauged for several days. But inside the Staples Center it was a
clear triumph.
"He was awesome!" said an
ebullient Lynda Garner Goldstein, a middle-school guidance counselor and
delegate from Rochester, N.Y. "He hit every issue. He really knows what this
country needs. I'm so excited about going out to work for this ticket."
Gore held the convention hall rapt as he talked
about problems facing lower- and middle-class families with drug costs and
managed care, lambasting the "big drug companies that run up record profits" and
HMO accountants who "don't have a right to play God."
He introduced individuals seated in the audience
who have struggled with these concerns. Then he presented himself as the
people's fighter.
"I've taken on the powerful
forces," he said. "And as president, I'll stand up to them, and I'll stand up
for you." Of the Republicans, he said, "they are for the powerful. We are for
the people."
That fight-for-the-working-family
theme and several others deemed key to the Democrats' electoral success echoed
throughout the speech.
His first act as
president, he pledged, would be to send a campaign-finance reform bill to
Congress.
"If you entrust me with the
presidency, I will put our democracy back in your hands, and get all the special
interest money _ all of it _ out of our democracy."
.
Detailing
the issues
Then he talked, by turns, about the
changes he would like to bring to health insurance (universal
coverage starting with all children, parity for treatment of
mental illness, prescription drug coverage for
all seniors); education (dramatically increased investment in public schools,
more assistance for families paying college tuition and a prohibition on
vouchers for private schools); retirement programs (tax-free ways to build a
better nest egg but opposition to privatization of the existing Social Security
plan); fiscal conservatism (paying down the national debt, balancing the budget
annually, making the Social Security and Medicare trust funds sacrosanct).
Gore drew wild applause when he hit traditional
Democratic party policy positions _ preserving abortion rights; raising the
minimum wage; passing a hate-crimes act; strengthening handgun regulation.
Gore and his running mate, Sen. Joseph
Lieberman, took their act on the road immediately, flying overnight to Wisconsin
to get a jump on post-convention campaigning in the Midwest. Bush takes his
campaign this morning to Al Gore's home state of Tennessee.
Although Gore did not directly attack Bush
during the hourlong address, his staff members contrasted the content of his
speech with Bush's address, which was light on specifics.
At Bush headquarters in Austin, Texas, aides
said that Bush raised 21 issues during his speech but that a convention was not
the appropriate place for detailed policy speeches.
Gore and Lieberman have stepped outside the
traditional Democratic box by also raising issues of public morality and
culture.
"I want you to know," Gore said
Thursday night, "I believe we must challenge a culture with too much meanness,
and not enough meaning. And as president I will stand with you for a goal that I
know we share: to give more power back to the parents, so that you can choose
what your children are exposed to, and pass on basic lessons of responsibility
and decency."
On taxes, Gore called for several
specific, targeted tax cuts for college, health care and other expenses. But he
took on Bush's call for a larger reduction by saying: " I will not go along with
a huge tax cut for the wealthy at the expense of everyone else and wreck our
good economy in the process."
Unlike the
Republican convention in Philadelphia, this party gathering has not been an
unexpurgated love fest for the nominee. The first night was devoted to Bill and
Hillary Clinton, the second featured a nostalgic look back to the era of the
Kennedy presidency and the third introduced Lieberman. Finally Thursday night,
the convention's last, was all about Gore.
No
fewer than nine personal friends _ including David Halberstam, the Pulitzer
prize winning author, John Tyson of Washington, D.C., a former college roommate
of Gore's, and the vice president's brother-in-law, Frank Hunger _ recalled
revealing moments from the vice president's biography.
The most vivid personal testimony came from
Tipper Gore, a photographer, who introduced her husband with a few words and
many of her own photographs of their family.
"Al
has always been there for our family," she said, "And he will always be there
for yours."
GRAPHIC: PHOTO
LOAD-DATE: August 18, 2000 
