Archive: Tad Devine

Veteran CBS News White House Correspondent Bill Plante brings a top political expert into the Smoke-Filled Room each week to answer your questions. His guest this week, Tad Devine, is one of Vice President Al Gore's most trusted advisers.

Plante: JoAnne Warden and John Anzul write:
"There was a recent editorial in the New York Times about the importance of the next president's choices for Justices to the Supreme Court. As the article points out, not much as been discussed about this. Is this a topic that Vice President Gore will talk about? It is a critical issue for us, and it will weigh heavily in our voting decisions. Also, although we wouldn't expect him to specify a particular person, is there anything Mr. Gore could tell us about the type of individual he would seek to fill vacancies on the court?"

Devine: Yes, Al Gore has spoken on a number of occasions about his intentions of appointing Justices to the Supreme Court who share his view of the Constitution as a living, breathing document that must be interpreted in the light of the experiences facing each generation. He spoke as recently as last Thursday night on Larry King Live about this topic and will continue to speak out on it during the course of the campaign.

Plante: "One of the reasons for the great economic boom of the last eight years has been the low interest rates," notes Robert Perl. "Can you tell the voters of this country how the proposed fiscal policies of each candidate is likely to affect interest rates?"

Devine: The Gore-Lieberman plan will balance the budget every year and set aside extra funds to completely eliminate the entire federal debt by the year 2012. A debt free America means lower interest rates, stronger economic growth, and increased productivity. By contrast, the Bush plan leaves America 2.8 trillion dollars in debt in the year 2012. Governor Bush recently said that he has "no specific time in mind" for paying off the nation's debt. That lack of focus on eliminating the nation's debt will obviously impair efforts to hold down interest rates. The Gore-Lieberman plan has been praised by leading economic experts for its potential to keep interest rates low.

Plante: Why hasn't Al Gore made more of an issue about gun control? Randy Fressle is curious.

Devine: Al Gore has spoken out on numerous occasions regarding the issue of gun control. Al Gore favors common sense gun control measures such as mandatory child trigger locks, a waiting period for the purchase of guns, and a law that would eliminate Saturday night specials and other cheap handguns from the market. Al Gore is committed to protecting our nations families and communities and has repeatedly demonstrated that he is willing to stand up to the gun lobby in an effort to make our communities safer.

Plnte: Macada Brandl would like to know "What is Mr. Gore's positions/platforms on arts in education? Does he support increasing the funding for the National Endowment of the Arts?"

Devine: Al Gore is supportive of funding for the National Endowment of the Arts. He feels that the NEA is vital in developing cultural opportunities for communities that would otherwise lack these opportunities. This is an important way in which government can strengthen communities and help parents to raise children in strong communities.

Al Gore supports the Clinton-Gore administration's proposal for FY 2001 Appropriations, which is a 34 million dollar increase to 150 million dollars for the NEH. He also supports the administration's proposals for FY 2001 Appropriations for a 52 million dollar increase to 150 million dollars for the NEA.

Plante: Glen Dempsey writes "The U.S. Government has taken more money from the American people in the form of taxes than it needs. I am nowhere near wealthy and sometimes barely make ends meet. Under Vice President Gore's plan, why should a family earning $30,000 per year be entitled to a higher percentage tax break than my family that earns $70,000 per year? Isn't it correct that I pay a higher percentage?"

Devine: Your specific situation would have to be analyzed and would depend on whether or not you qualified for numerous tax breaks such as the ten thousand dollar a year tax cut for college tuition, assistance with long-term care or child care, or other tax cuts which are targeted specifically to middle class and working families. In the absence of all of this information, it is impossible to specifically analyze your situation but if you would email it directly to the Gore campaign at algore.com our staff could help with that analysis.

Plante: "These polls are driving me crazy," says Laura Reidinger. She asks, "If Bush is doing so well, why is the Vice President so far ahead in the Electoral College votes? Do all these national tracking polls ever get to you, or have you learned to just ignore them?"

Devine: The reason Governor Bush appears to be doing better in national surveys than he is in the electoral college is due to the fact that he enjoys a substantial lead in his home state of Texas which is a very large part of the national sample. Texas actually constitutes about six and a half percent of a national sample and with some polls showing Governor Bush as much as 50 points ahead in his own state that would translate to a 2-3 point advantage in a national horserace. Therefore, if the national horserace were even, and Governor Bush had that much advantage in his home state of Texas, Al Gore would win a clear victory in the electoral college since he would most likely prevail in states like California, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Michigan, and other states where a close national horserace woul translate to Vice President Gore’s advantage.

Plante: "Does Gore really have a grasp on how much new federal spending he has proposed this election cycle? Can he really increase this much spending without a tax increase if the supposed surplus never shows up?" questions Nathan J. Kerr.

Devine: There is uncertainty about the future. That is why Al Gore and Joe Lieberman first begin by setting aside the Social Security and Medicare surpluses for debt reduction. Then they underspend the projected surplus by $300 billion - $1 out of every $6. This adds up to $3 trillion of debt reduction over 10 years. In contrast, Bush-Cheney spend virtually the entire surplus on a $1.6 trillion tax cut that delivers 43 percent of its benefits to the top 1 percent of Americans.

We base our budget on conservative forecasts about the future. Over the past 7 1/2 years, growth and the surplus have been larger than forecast each and every year. Going forward, the economic growth assumptions that the forecast is based on are more conservative than the Blue Chip consensus of leading economic forecasters.

Al Gore has been a part of cutting government to its smallest size in forty years. Al Gore and Joe Lieberman are going to build on the record of creating smaller government that does more for America's families. Their economic plan outlines ten ambitious goals, including eliminating the debt by 2012, and that will be achieved through smart investments and fiscal responsibility. In his economic plan, Vice President Gore made clear that the spending he has outlined for the budget surplus would not occur if the surplus did not materialize. The absence of the surplus would mean that many of the spending programs that have been proposed would not be funded at the level at which they were originally proposed. In fact if implemented, the Gore-Lieberman economic plan will shrink the government share of the economy to the smallest size in fifty years.

Plante: Jacqueline Hrubovcak writes, "The Democrats often state how committed they are to seeing that the democratic process regarding elections is carried out. Why doesn't Al Gore take a stand and request the FEC to include the third party presidential and vice presidential candidates to participate in the debates? Why doesn't Al Gore challenge George Bush to take this stand?"

Devine: Al Gore is looking forward to the three debates that the Bi-Partisan Presidential Debate Commission is sponsoring. Guidelines about who participates in these debates have been established by the commission based on their determination that the American people want to see a debate between the candidates who have a realistic chance of becoming our next President. That criteria led to the inclusion of Ross Perot in 1992, and is objective in nature.