PORTLAND, Ore. — With his running mate at his side, Vice President Al Gore took another political scalpel to the issue of health care Wednesday and chastised his opponent's proposed use of the federal budget surplus for tax cuts rather than for meeting the nation's social needs.
On a day set aside to highlight the problems of Medicare, Gore, the Democratic presidential nominee, and Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman instead spent more than an hour at a downtown campus meandering through myriad health care issues with local residents, from Medicare's shortfall in treating one woman for a stroke to the need for diabetes research.
Recording it all was a film crew seeking material for Gore campaign commercials. The audience of about 200 people presented a sympathetic backdrop in a Portland State University meeting room that was turned into a talk show-like stage set.
The theme woven throughout the program: that Texas Gov. George W. Bush, the Republican presidential nominee, would send the excess money in the federal budget back to the wealthiest taxpayers while Gore would devote the surplus to shoring up programs for health and other issues.
"The other side has placed its top priority on taking virtually all of this projected surplus and giving it in the form of a giant tax cut mainly to the wealthy," Gore said. "For every $10 that the wealthiest 1% would receive, middle class families would get one dime, lower income families would get one penny.
"And their theory is, that's going to be good for the country," he continued. "And they say it's your money. Well, it is your money. But it's your Medicare. It's your Social Security. It's your environment. It's your school system. It's your country. And we need to make choices to build up your country."
That was about as much punch as Gore brought to the day. He was largely out of public view, save for the town hall-style meeting.
The Gore campaign has set the week aside for a day-by-day dissection of the differences between the Democratic and Republican presidential candidates on health care--from insurance coverage to the needs of children, the problems of the elderly paying for prescription drugs, the choices required in meeting the baby boom generation's demands on Medicare and, today, the rights of patients in dealing with health maintenance organizations.
