[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: WILLIAM J. CLINTON (2000, Book I)]
[March 3, 2000]
[Pages 371-372]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Exchange With Reporters in San Jose
March 3, 2000

2000 Presidential Election

    Q. Mr. President, what do you think of the idea of a Gore-Feinstein 
ticket?
    The President. I think very highly of it. And I think she is immensely talented and would be good at anything. 
But this is a decision that the Vice President should make after he wins the nomination. And it's not 
done yet. So I would recommend that all these questions be deferred 
until after we know for sure that he's the nominee, and then you should 
ask him.
    Q. How would you assess the Republican strategy using you to tarnish 
their Presidential candidates? How do you assess it?
    The President. I don't know. You know, they've got to do what 
they've got to do. I wish--when I saw the Vice President and Senator Bradley in their 
last debate, I know that the conventional wisdom was, it wasn't very 
interesting because they agreed on too much. But what I thought is, how 
fortunate we are to have people that know that much and care that much 
about things that will actually affect people's lives, instead of grab 
the day's headlines.
    And I thought there was quite a remarkable contrast between the 
substantive level of knowledge and discussion in that debate and the one 
I heard last night. That's the only observation I want to make. I 
shouldn't--they can run their own campaigns. They don't need to have me 
commenting. I shouldn't get in the way of the Republicans or the 
Democrats right now. I'm not running. I'm enjoying watching it.
    Q. But is this a campaign--[inaudible].
    The President. Well, time will tell, won't it? The voters are in 
charge in this deal, not me.

Maine Initiative on the Digital Divide

    Q. Can I clarify? The seventh graders who are going to get the 
laptops, can you tell me more about----
    The President. Oh, yes. That's Maine. It's a great story. Angus 
King in Maine, it's great,

[[Page 372]]

he's got a system to give every seventh grader in the State--
[inaudible].

Note: The exchange began at 12:30 p.m. at the Novell Headquarters. In 
his remarks, the President referred to Senator Dianne Feinstein; former 
Senator Bill Bradley; and Gov. Angus S. King, Jr., of Maine. A tape was 
not available for verification of the content of this exchange.