THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
(Santa Monica, California)
___________________________________________________________________________
______ For
Immediate Release November 2, 2000
REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT
AT
REPRESENTATIVE CAL DOOLEY FOR CONGRESS RECEPTION
Private Residence
Beverly Hills, California
8:35 P.M. PST
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen, I'm honored
to be here tonight. What Cal Dooley told you is true -- he represents a
totally different district, lots of big farms. Some of the farms in Cal's
district are almost as large as Haim's and Cheryl's back yard. (Laughter.)
Yes, Cal said he he'll bring a tractor next time he comes to see you here.
(Laughter.)
I want to thank all of you for being here, and thank Governor Davis
and Sharon -- they've been with me all day today. We had a meeting with
people who are working on the Coordinated Campaign and then we went to an
event for Gerrie Shipske. Before that, we went to a great rally in Watts
today and we had a really good time, trying to stir the voters up. And I'm
honored to be here tonight with Cal and Lou Dooley. And I thank the other
members of Congress who are here: Representatives Waxman, Berman and
Becerra, my friends and partners; Hilda Solis, who will soon be with us in
Congress; and Jim Costa (phonetic), whom I've known for many years.
I was supposed to do this before, and I had to go to the Middle East,
we had to put this off. And I wanted to come back to answer Governor
Davis' call, trying to make sure that we did as much as we could, not only
to make sure that Al Gore and Joe Lieberman would get California's 54
electoral votes and not have to come back in the 11th hour, but also to
help the members of Congress who are running here.
We have a bona fide chance in five districts now held by Republicans.
And we have a real contest in Cal Dooley's district, because it's a rural
agricultural district and a lot of American voting is cultural. And a lot
of the folks in Cal's district like him, but they're sort of not
acculturated to voting for Democrats yet. (Laughter.) You know, they
still give Republicans the rhetorical credit, even though they quadrupled
the debt and we got rid of the deficit, you know, there is a disconnect
there. But it's a real challenge for him. And he has a formidable
opponent who's got a lot of money.
You know, this is the first time in 26 years I've not been on the
ballot. I'm not running for anything, for the first time since 1974. And
it gives me a certain amount of freedom to say what I think, although I'm
trying not to be so free that I imperil either my wife or the Vice
President in the election -- (laughter) -- about saying what I think.
But I want you to know, I really wanted to be here tonight. I'm crazy
about Cal Dooley and about his wife. And I feel so grateful that we have
people like him who can represent the Democratic Party to rural America, to
people who are culturally far more conservative than most of the people in
Los Angeles, but who have the same real long-term values and interests that
the rest of us do.
And I have always believed that to succeed over the long run, the
Democratic Party would have to prove that we could be fiscally responsible
and compassionate, that we could be pro business and pro labor, that we
could be pro economic growth and pro environmental preservation.
We have to be a unifying force in the country. And Cal Dooley is all
that. We've worked together for years on the Democratic Leadership
Council. There is a reason the farm workers endorsed him, because he cares
about every poor kid in his district and believes every single one of them
-- every boy and girl -- ought to have a chance to live their dreams. And
there is a reason that the chairman of Commerce endorsed him, because he's
been an integral part of the new economy that we've worked so hard to
build.
People ask me all the time what we did to turn the economy around. We
had just three simple ideas. One, get rid of the deficit, it's killing us
on interest rates and it's hurting the private economy. Two, sell more
American products and services around the world. And, three, invest more
in the capacity of the American people.
And the one area -- it's no secret to anybody that I have not yet
succeeded in convincing a vast majority of my party in Congress I was right
in was on the second area, the trade area. But Cal Dooley was with me
because he could see the farmers that he represented needing those markets,
and he could see the positive side of that. I will always be grateful to
him for that, because I am convinced that we've done a lot in the last
eight years to build a modern economy.
But I just want to make -- I want to close with three quick points,
because I know it's late, and a lot of you don't live in this district, but
you may live in districts where some of these other people are running,
where we've got a chance to win. It's amazing how close all these races
are. And in the presidential race there are probably a dozen states that
are within two points.
Now, if you look at where we were eight years ago and where we are
today, with the economy, with the declining crime rate and improving
environment, improving schools, improving health care, it is not rational
that -- are you going to take him off? That's okay. I gave a speech once
and my father-in-law had a heart attack during it. (Laughter.) He was
rushed to the hospital and had a quadruple heart bypass, and when he woke
up, I told him it wasn't that good a speech. (Laughter.)
But let me just say this. If you live in any of these places, I can't
tell you how close these races are. And I just want you to go out and tell
people that there are differences between the parties, they have grave
consequences for our future. And if you want to keep the prosperity going
and the social progress going, you'd better vote for Al Gore and Joe
Lieberman and Cal Dooley or whoever else is your representative in Congress
and Dianne Feinstein.
Because, believe me, the great achievement of the last eight years is
that we have shown again we can all go forward together. We have more
millionaires and more billionaires than we ever had before, but we also
had, the first time in history, average income has topped $40,000 with 15
percent increase in earnings.
So we can do this. Thank you for your money. If you can give Cal
Dooley any more money, you ought to give him some more money. (Laughter.)
But I'm telling you, this man is very, very important to the national
Democratic Party. He helps us reach out to people who normally aren't for
us, he forces all of our members to think, he brings people together in
unique and powerful ways, and he needs to be here. He is a very, very
special person, and I'm grateful.
Thank you very much. (Applause.)
END 8:43 P.M. PST
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