Politics

Gore: Mountaintop Moment

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

April 5, 2000 / 9:22 AM EDT / CBS

Al Gore has gone back on the offensive against his presumptive November rival, saying the upcoming election against George W. Bush presents voters with "as stark and clear and sharp a contrast as in any election in American history."

In a speech to party donors Tuesday in Glen Cove, N.Y., he criticized the Texas governor's policies and said this period in time could be described as a "mountaintop moment."

At a time of continued economic growth, Gore said the country must ask itself "not only how do we keep this prosperity going, but how do we make sure that nobody is left behind?"

Gore's comments at the Northshore Day Camp, an affluent nursery school overlooking Long Island Sound, came several hours after he unveiled two new Social Security reforms in Philadelphia.

One proposal would give widows three-quarters of their former benefits after their spouse dies. Currently, those benefits can be cut by as much as half after the death of a spouse.

The other would give working parents, mostly women, up to five years of credit when calculating their Social Security benefits if they took time off to raise children. The Gore campaign estimated the change could affect up to 8 million people.

"If you entrust me with the presidency, I make you this promise," Gore told senior citizens at the Fels Community Center. "I will make the modest but crucial adjustments in our Social Security system that will make it fairer for American women to honor their work."

Gore also used the occasion to criticize Bush's proposal to allow private retirement accounts in the Social Security system, saying: "If he gets his hands on America's retirement system, it will quickly become a system of social insecurity."

Bush, who also was in Philadelphia as Pennsylvania held its presidential primaries, replied: "I can't think of a better reform than allowing women to manage their own personal savings accounts."

Today, Bush will be tending to state business in Austin, Texas. Gore plans to contrast their education policies during a speech to construction unions meeting in Washington. Gore also was attending a Democratic National Committee dinner in Annapolis, Md.

The race between Bush and Gore remains close, according to a new Gallup Poll showing Bush with 46 percent support and Gore with 45 percent among likely voters, a dead heat given the poll's error margin of plus or minus 5 percentage points.

On March 27, a CBS News poll gave the Texas governor a 49 to 42 percent edge.