Remarks at a Reception for Congressional Candidate John J. Kelly

Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents, Oct 9, 2000

October 4, 2000

Let me say, first of all, I'm here for several reasons. One is, whatever I've been able to accomplish these last 8 years would have been impossible without the support of the Democratic Members of Congress. And in some ways, their support when we were in the minority in Congress has been even more vital than when we were in the majority, because if they stick with me, we can still do most of what we want to do for America.

As some evidence of how important this race is to them, we have one of the true leaders of our Democratic caucus, Representative Nancy Pelosi from California, is here. Thank you, and Representative Brad Sherman from California back there. Congressman David Minge from Minnesota was here; he just walked out. Is anybody else here, Tom? Is anybody else here? I don't want to make anybody mad. [Laughter] I'm getting to you.

I also--I want to thank Torn Udall, who took me around Santa Fe a few days ago. We had a wonderful time, and I actually got to do something I rarely do. I got to shop a little. And I informed him that he took me to the right places, and the women who live in my house are very happy with the selections he helped me make. [Laughter] And I thank him or that.

The second thing is, I feel deeply indebted to New Mexico. New Mexico voted for Al Gore and me twice, gave us strong support, and has contributed immensely to the success of this administration. And Bill Richardson, who was here earlier, has done a fabulous job. Ann Bingaman served in the Justice Department with great distinction. Of course, John was an outstanding United States attorney, and Jeff Bingaman has been a leader on technology and environmental issues, on so many issues where what we're trying to do in the White House can only be done because he's been out there for years in the Senate doing the same things, even better. And I'm very grateful to you, Jeff Bingaman. Thank you.

Now, if John hadn't asked all the Georgetown people to raise their hand, I was going to do it, because the press, which is covering this, is always looking for the dark underbelly of these fundraisers. [Laughter] There is always some sordid, hidden motive behind everything we're doing. And I just wanted to know what it is. [Laughter] For the first time in 26 years, I am not on the ballot. And you all were about to have the DT's--[laughter]--and so now you've got somebody to help. And I appreciate, more than I can say, all of our classmates for being here.

John was a year behind me at Georgetown. I met him 35 years ago. I liked him then. I admired him then, and I still do. You heard him talk a little about his career. I think we need more people in the United States Congress who spent big chunks of their lives helping people that most of the rest of us forget about, who know what life is like for people who will never be able to come to a fundraiser in Washington or even in Albuquerque. I think that's really important.

I also think he and Suedeen are the kind of people we want to hold up as Representatives of the Democratic Party in the new century. They represent everything that I think is the best about America. And the other thing I want to tell you is, he can win this race. In 1998--little known fact--our nominee for this congressional seat in 1998 won the election on election day and was defeated by the advance balloting in New Mexico, 3 weeks in advance, because it all moved to us in the last 5 days there. But he won; our guy won on election day. And we weren't in harness enough with the national mood until the last week, so that that's one more House seat we would have won had we been where we were on election day 3 weeks out. So he can win.

Now, in a larger sense I want to say, I know I'm kind of preaching to the saved here, but there are a lot of people here who have friends not only in New Mexico, but a lot of John's friends have come here from other States. Some of you have come from New York, and if you did, I hope you'll vote for Hillary. I'll get a little plug there.

But I would imagine most of you watched the debate last night. I thought the Vice President did an outstanding job. But I want you to know what I believe. I believe when Al Gore says, "You ain't seen nothing yet," it's more than a campaign slogan. I believe that the best stuff for America is still out there.

We spent an enormous amount of time in the last 8 years kind of turning around the ship of state, and that can't be done on the dime like that. It's like a big ocean liner. You know, the Titanic hit the iceberg in spite of the fact that the crew saw it way before they did it. They just didn't see it in time to avoid the iceberg. It takes time to turn around. And we've done that. And now, virtually every indicator is going in the right direction: Not just the lowest unemployment in 30 years, but welfare has been cut in half. We've got the lowest crime rate in 27 years. We had, last year, for the first time in a dozen years, we had a decline in the number of people without health insurance in America, a huge turnaround. And things are going in the right direction. So the question is, what do we do with all this?