    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: WILLIAM J. CLINTON (2000, Book I)]
    [March 9, 2000]
    [Pages 428-430]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks at a Dinner for Governor Mel Carnahan
    March 9, 2000

        Well, thank you very much. Let me begin by thanking Smith and Elizabeth for having
    us into this magnificent, beautiful place, for the Democrats again and
    specifically for Mel Carnahan; and for being such good friends and for
    being willing to be called Smith Barney and Bailey Smith and other
    names. [Laughter] I'm sure there's a reward for you in heaven for
    enduring those slings and arrows.
        I want to thank the other Senators who have come here to express
    their support for you. I see Senator Boxer
    back there, Senator Murray, and Senator
    Cleland. I think Senator Harkin is here. There he is. And Senator Wellstone and Senator Daschle were
    here. I don't know if they're still here or not. But this is quite an
    outstanding turnout of your prospective colleagues.
        I also want all of you to know that I have a different take on this
    than everybody--this race--than everybody here who is not from Missouri,
    because Mel and Jean Carnahan have been
    friends of mine for along time. Robin has
    worked with me, and their children I've had a chance to know. I want you
    to know that you did a good thing tonight, contributing to his campaign,
    because he was a great Governor and because he's a good man and a good
    friend and because he'll be a good Senator.
        I'm for him in part because when only my mother thought I could be
    elected President in 1991--and my wife, as she never lets me forget--
    [laughter]--Mel Carnahan was a Lieutenant Governor involved in a very
    difficult primary for Governor. He had all he could say grace over, and
    he still endorsed me for President in the Missouri primary. It was a
    brave and good thing to do, and I'll never forget it.
        And I was the Governor of Arkansas. Missouri is my neighbor. I was
    raised idolizing Harry Truman. When I was a young man here in the
    Senate, I worked for Senator Fulbright and got to watch Stuart Symington
    up close. And I may be the only person here who's actually known Senator
    Ashcroft for more than 20 years, besides Mel.
    We served together as attorney general and as Governor, and we always
    had a very cordial, personal relationship.
        But I can tell you that he actually believes all those things that
    the Republicans say. [Laughter] And I say that not to make you laugh but
    to say, you know, one of the things I don't like in a lot of these
    campaigns is, we get into all this name-calling and demonization. We act
    like, you know, what's really bad about our opponents is, they're doing
    these bad things, and they don't really believe them. That's not true
    about him. [Laughter]
        We can laugh about this, but that's what they think about us. They
    think we're always playing to some crowd or another. And I think it's
    important to point out that most of us on both sides actually believe in
    what we're doing. And that's what makes the political system work. It's
    what gives the political system integrity. The main reason that I want
    to see campaign finance reform, since I'm not a candidate for anything
    anymore, and the main reason I really respect

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    Smith--because, you know, if we have campaign
    finance reform, it'll cost him a little less money, but then he'll have
    to open his home and have evenings where we actually debate the issues,
    instead of hustle you for money. [Laughter]
        But the major reason we need to reform the campaign finance system,
    in my judgment, is that it's almost all the money goes to voter
    communication, and it's wrong to have unequal levels of voter
    communication. The people need to hear a full debate on both sides and
    have a full ability to evaluate the personalities of candidates on all
    sides in order to make good decisions. And the second main reason we
    need it is that the people in office and the people who want to get in
    office have to spend too much time raising money, and they're exhausted
    all the time, and they don't have enough time to read and think and talk
    to other people.
        I would say the third reason you need it is the reason all the press
    says, which is, you know, the corrupting influence of big money. The
    truth is that over 90 percent of the time--way over 90 percent of the
    time--the people in both parties in the Senate and in the House vote
    their convictions. And way over 90 percent of the time the people that
    give you money never ask you for anything, except to keep in touch with
    them and discuss the issues and talk about things and listen to them if
    they've got something on their minds.
        Anyway, to get back to the point I was making, I know both these
    men. And I don't have to demonize John Ashcroft. When we were young men together, we worked as attorney
    general together; we worked as Governor. I had a very cordial
    relationship with him. But he believes in how he's voted in the Senate,
    and I don't. And we should stop pretending that it doesn't make any
    difference who wins, or that it's all some game dominated by who gives
    money and all that. That's not true.
        There are two great philosophical differences of opinion today,
    battling their way through Washington. They won in the elections of '94.
    We won when we beat the contract on America. The people ratified our
    decision in '96. We got together briefly in the welfare reform bill and
    in the Balanced Budget Act of '97. Then our approach was ratified in the
    '98 election. And then we won again when I vetoed their huge tax bill in
    '99, which would have undermined our ability to save Social Security and
    Medicare, balance the budget, pay off the debt, and keep investing in
    our future.
        But we have now had--we've got an ongoing debate here about what
    kind of country we're going to be, what our responsibilities to each
    other are, and where we're going. Now, I know this man very well,
    Carnahan. I know him very well. We worked together for years. I went to
    Missouri more than any other State when we were promoting welfare reform
    because he did the best job of any Governor in America in requiring
    people who were able-bodied to get training and to go into the workplace
    and getting big businesses to help him, but also caring about the
    welfare of poor people, to make sure that the children had health care
    and the people had a decent place to live and the child care was there
    and the transportation was there. He did it right. And if he's in the
    Senate, he will do it right. This is a very important thing.
        I can also tell you that for Democrats, because we believe in
    activist Government, it's very important that we keep a certain number
    of innovative Governors coming into the U.S. Senate all the time,
    because they understand how this stuff works. And it's important that
    you have people from our part of the country elected to the Senate, so
    that we can defend it when we have to take tough votes on sensible gun
    safety measures, for example.
        It's not a hard vote for people who have no significant rural
    voters, no significant percentage for getting the NRA mailings all the
    time. It'll be a hard vote for him. And he'll take it, and he'll do the
    right thing, but then he'll know how to defend it, which is very, very
    important.
        So all these Senate races are very important this year. All these
    House races are important. But I want those of you who don't know Mel
    Carnahan to know you have an extraordinary opportunity here. I know this
    guy. He is a good man. He is a great friend. He was there with me when I
    was practically all alone and running fifth in the polls in New
    Hampshire. You want somebody that will stay hitched in the tough times
    and take a decision when it's not self-evidently the right thing to do.
        He has been a fabulous Governor, and you heard him reel off the
    issues. I just want you to know this is a huge deal. These judicial
    votes today were just one example. Senator Ashcroft voted to kill the African-American State Supreme Court
    judge in Missouri, Ronnie White,

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    and I believe did not fairly represent his position as a judge on
    criminal justice issues.
        But there is an honest division here. You don't have to hate anybody
    to take the other one's part. But of all the races we've got going where
    we're trying to elect a new person to the Senate, this guy has a unique
    ability to make a contribution to the Senate, to the policies and the
    politics of the Senate, that no one else does.
        You did a good thing in coming here. I hope you'll ask other people
    to give to his campaign. I think he's going to win, and all of us need
    to do whatever we can to help him.
        Thank you very much.

    Note: The President spoke at 8:15 p.m. at a private residence. In his
    remarks, he referred to dinner hosts Smith and Elizabeth Bagley; and
    Governor Carnahan's wife, Jean, and daughter, Robin. Governor Carnahan
    was a candidate for U.S. Senate in Missouri.