[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 36, Number 10 (Monday, March 13, 2000)]
[Page 453]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Exchange With Reporters in San Jose, California

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, 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 former Senator Bill Bradley and 
Gov. Angus S. King, Jr., of Maine. This item was not received in time 
for publication in the appropriate issue. A tape was not available for 
verification of the content of this exchange.