[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: WILLIAM J. CLINTON (2000-2001, Book III)]
[October 13, 2000]
[Pages 2175-2176]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



[[Page 2175]]


Telephone Remarks to a Dinner for Congressional Candidate Mike 
Ross
October 13, 2000

    The President. Well, let me first of all thank John and Penny for hosting this. 
And I want to thank Marion Berry and Vic 
Snyder for being there for you. They can speak 
more eloquently than I can about how important it is for Arkansas that 
you be elected and how wonderful it would be if they had a genuine 
partner that was always working for Arkansas and not just at election 
time.
    I have to tell you, Mike, I noticed the other day that the 
Republicans put in a little money for a bridge down in southeast 
Arkansas, and I think the voters--they ought to give you credit for it. 
[Laughter] I was trying to get them to give me the money for the bridge, 
and until you got to where you could beat Jay Dickey, they never thought about springing for it. So I think 
that ought to be called the Ross Bridge, if we ever get it built. 
[Laughter]
    Let me say just one thing very seriously. This is a very different 
country than it was 8 years ago, and Arkansas is in a lot better shape 
than it was 8 years ago. The economy is better. The crime rate is down. 
The welfare rolls are lower. More children have health insurance. We're 
giving more constructive aid to our schools. And every single policy 
that was implemented--most importantly, going from a $290 billion 
deficit to a $230 billion surplus and turning this economy around--was 
implemented because I had the support of Democrats in the Congress.
    And the Republicans basically fought our economic policy. They 
fought our welfare policy. They fought our crime policy. They fought our 
education policy. They fought our environmental policy. They fought all 
of our economic policies. They did give us a farm bill that Marion 
Berry and I told them wouldn't work, back in 
'95. And sure enough, we were right; it wouldn't work.
    And now, basically, the people of south Arkansas have to decide 
whether they're going to keep this country moving in a good direction, 
or vote for someone who comes home every weekend but then goes back to 
Washington and votes against them. And I'll just use one example.
    These ads that the so-called Citizens for Better Medicare are 
running against Mike Ross, because he's a pharmacist who believes that 
all of our seniors ought to be able buy prescription drugs, are 
scandalous. And they're typical of what the Republicans all over America 
are trying to do. They come home every weekend and tell the folks they 
love them. Then they go back to Washington and they vote for the vested 
interest. Then they got those interest groups to give them money to run 
bogus ads to confuse the voters back home. That's basically what is 
going on here.
    And I just know that if Mike Ross gets enough financial support to 
be able to compete with this avalanche of special interest money that's 
being spent against him, the voters in south Arkansas will vote for him, 
because he'll work just as hard as Mr. Dickey at 
coming home on the weekends and keeping up with his constituents. Then 
he'll go back to Washington and actually vote for them, for a Medicare 
prescription drug program, for a Patients' Bill of Rights, for paying 
off the debt instead of having a tax cut so big we'll be in debt from 
now on--these are really, really important issues--and for helping our 
schools.
    You know, I really believe that Mike can win this race, and I 
believe he will win this race, as long as the people who are rewarding 
his opponent for voting with them instead of the people of south 
Arkansas can't run enough ads to turn this election into a smokescreen. 
So I am profoundly grateful to all of you for helping him. He's a fine 
man. I have known him for nearly 20 years. He was a teenager when he 
started working for me. [Laughter] And when I'm gone from Washington, 
he'll be a Congressman, thanks to you. Thank you very, very much.
    Mike, let me just say one other thing. I just wanted to say, on a 
very serious note and kind of a nonpolitical note, as you know, I badly 
wanted to be there tonight. I have been working for the last 8 days 
trying to restore calm in the Middle East, and I've been on the phone 
all day today and have some more work to do late tonight. And I'm 
terribly sorry I could not be there. But after the loss of our sailors 
in Yemen yesterday and the continued violence in the Middle East, I just 
thought I had to stay here and work. We may get a breakthrough

[[Page 2176]]

sometime in the next several hours. We're working hard, trying to turn 
this thing around. I hope you'll all say a prayer for us tonight, and I 
hope you'll forgive me for not being there. But just know that it has 
nothing to do with my profound desire to see you elected.
    State Senator Ross. Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you, very much. 
We're going to win this thing. We're going to win it for you. We're 
going to win it for the Democratic Party.
    The President. Thank you. And thank you, Vic. 
Thank you, Marion, and thanks, John and Penny. Goodbye, folks. 
Thank you.

Note: The President spoke at 9:12 p.m. from the Residence at the White 
House to the dinner at a private residence in Little Rock, AR. In his 
remarks, he referred to dinner hosts John and Penny Burkhalter. State 
Senator Mike Ross was a candidate for Arkansas' Fourth Congressional 
District. A tape was not available for verification of the content of 
these remarks.