Des Moines Register: Gore again pledges support for abortion rightsBy JONATHAN ROOS
Register Staff Writer
January 4, 2000
Web posted at: 10:01 a.m. EST (1501 GMT)
 DES MOINES, Iowa (Des Moines Register) -- Vice President Al Gore drew cheers from female supporters at a Des Moines campaign stop Monday night by pledging to uphold abortion rights and battle for women's rights.
Gore, a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination, said abortion rights could be at stake in the 2000 election because the next president probably will get to appoint three or even four Supreme Court justices.
"A lot is at stake, not only for the right to choose, but for civil rights, affirmative action," he said at the campaign rally.
Gore said he also would work for pay equity for women and men, a dollar increase in the minimum wage, an expansion of the federal family and medical leave law, greater access to affordable child care, and preschool availability for every child.
Several hundred women accepted campaign invitations to the rally, although some left early because the vice president's flight was delayed. Gore appealed several times for the audience's support in the Jan. 24 Iowa caucuses, which kick off the nomination process.
Ruth Ann Gaines, a drama teacher at Des Moines' East High School, said Gore can count on her backing.
"I thought he said all the right things in terms of women, in terms of diversity, in terms of America," Gaines said. "I like Bill Bradley," she said of the vice president's Democratic rival, "but I am going for Gore because of his experience."
Earlier in the day, Gore used his first Iowa campaign visit of the new year to question whether Bradley would provide the leadership America needs in the 21st century.
Gore told students at Davenport's West High School that Bradley seems willing to tackle only a limited agenda. Gore described himself as the candidate with the experience and vision to lead the nation.
"Senator Bradley seems to believe America can address only one thing at a time, that health care is the only challenge we can handle," Gore said.
"Today, in the midst of this powerful economic recovery, America can master all our challenges," he said in a speech that touted the successes of the seven years he has served so far with President Clinton.
The vice president said Bradley, a former U.S. senator from New Jersey, is a "good and decent man. . . . But I believe that on many issues, he has the wrong plans. And on some critical issues, he has no plans."
Gore repeated his criticism of the cost of Bradley's plan to achieve universal access to health care. He lumped the health plan with Republican presidential candidates' tax-cut proposals, which he said would consume the federal budget surplus and leave the country without the resources to deal with other pressing problems.
Gore said his step-by-step approach to universal health insurance coverage is, by comparison, affordable.
Bradley's campaign staff claimed Monday that Gore is not being fiscally responsible with all the campaign promises he has made. They contend Gore's proposals would overspend the projected federal budget surplus by as much as $350 billion over 10 years.
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