Politics

Money Flows Amid Reform Talk

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

April 25, 2000 / 8:59 AM EDT / CBS

Midtown Manhattan was snarled, almost beyond the point of no return, but inside a Big Apple ballroom Monday evening, Democratic top brass was raking in political money and promising to unsnarl the problems of campaign finance reform, among other things.

Amid the pageantry, President Clinton delivered his most emotional endorsement yet for Vice President Al Gore, and applauded his wife, who is running for Senate, in the first joint fund-raising appearance is its kind this year.

Both Gore, who will be the Democratic presidential nominee, and Hillary Rodham Clinton, the Democratic candidate for Senate in New York, initially kept their political distance from Clinton as their campaigns began in earnest earlier this year.

But there was no sign of distance at the packed Democratic National Committee fund raiser, as Clinton locked Gore in a bear hug and exchanged smiles and whispers with his wife.

Clinton grinned with pride as Hillary Rodham Clinton spoke with uncustomary ease and delivered a few one-liners on Monday night. After she introduced him, Clinton joked to the crowd, "I think she's about to get the hang of it, don't you?"

The president's tone turned melancholy as he reflected on his more than seven years in office with Gore, and he brought a hush to the partisan crowd as he rhetorically passed the torch.

"I probably know more about him than anybody but Tipper. I know what he likes and can't stand. I know what he loves. I know when he's having a bad day and how he deals with it ... and all I can say is I feel absolutely comfortable putting the future of my daughter, and the grandchildren I hope she'll give us, in his hands."

In a break with protocol, Hail to the Chief did not play as Clinton entered the room for the $2.2 million Democratic gala, and Gore, not Clinton, got headliner's honors as the last to speak

Gore gave the more combative speech.

He accused Republicans of "fraud" and "illusion" in their education, tax and defense policies, and said GOP spending priorities do not add up.

"How arrogant to think that we Americans cannot add or subtract," Gore said.

Gore said Texas Gov. George W. Bush's proposed five-year, $483 billion tax-cut would actually cost $2.1 trillion over ten years, and thus consume the entire federal surplus and put the economy in danger.

Gore vowed as president to keep the budget balanced and interest rates low while investing in education, opening up new markets and growing the economy.

"The other side would put that all at risk," he warned.

For her part, the first lady contributed to the mutual admiration by praising her husband's work in the White House.

"I'm very proud of the record of this administration, and the results speak for themselves," Mrs. Clinton said.