[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1996, Book II)]
[August 28, 1996]
[Page 1408]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Remarks at the University of Chicago in Chicago, Illinois
August 28, 1996

    Hello! Thank you. Thank you so much. Let me say that it is great to 
be in Chicago. I want to say to the mayor and to Maggie and to all of 
the Daley family and to the Members of Congress who are here and all 
those who are on the committee and all the people who have worked so 
hard to make our Democratic Party feel at home in Chicago, this 
convention has succeeded beyond our wildest dreams. We thank you, 
Chicago; you have been wonderful. You have been wonderful.
    While you've been here having a good time with all my family, I have 
been on a train. We've been on a train--Hillary and Chelsea and I went 
to West Virginia on Sunday, and then Hillary came here to be with you. 
And Chelsea stayed with me another day or so, and we went to Kentucky 
and to Ohio and to Michigan.
    Last night we had--after Hillary spoke at the convention last 
night--and I thought she did a great job--last night we had over 20,000 
people at Michigan State University in East Lansing to meet our train. 
And then after the convention last night I called Governor Bayh from 
Indiana, and I said--I said two things. I said, one, ``I liked your 
speech, and thank you for giving it,'' and I said, ``but you know I just 
was in East Lansing, and we had over 20,000 people there.'' So when we 
got to Indiana today, we had 30,000 people in Indiana. [Laughter]
    It's been a wonderful, wonderful trip. I took that trip for two 
reasons. As all of you know, when I accept the nomination of our party 
tomorrow night and start this campaign, it will be the first American 
campaign for the 21st century and the last campaign for Bill Clinton. I 
wanted to be on that track because I wanted to look into the eyes, into 
the faces, and into the hearts of people who live in the heartland of 
America, the people I have worked for and fought for for the last 4 
years. And I liked what I saw. And I wanted them to see that our train 
was not only on the right track to Chicago, we're on the right track to 
the 21st century. And that's what this convention and this campaign is 
all about.
    To all of you who've been here, to all of those who've spoken, I 
have been immensely proud of everything I've seen. I've followed all of 
the proceedings as well as I could. I've been up too late watching the 
replays to see what everyone said and what everyone did. And I don't 
want to give my speech tomorrow night here tonight, but just let me say 
the best is yet to come, the best days of America, the best days of the 
Clinton/Gore administration, the best days of our efforts together to 
lift up our country and move forward.
    Thank you, and God bless you all.

Note: The President spoke at 8:22 p.m. at the university baseball field. 
In his remarks, he referred to Mayor Richard M. Daley of Chicago and his 
wife, Margaret.