Acceptance speech at the 2000 Democratic National Convention (page 3)

VICE PRESIDENT GORE (cont'd): Education -- education may be a local responsibility, but I believe it also has to be our number-one national priority. We can't stop until every school in America is a good place to get a good education.

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And I will never forget a little boy named Ian Malone, who suffered from a medical mistake during childbirth and needs full-time nursing care for several years. I met him and his parents in Seattle near Everett, Washington, their home, and their HMO had told the Malones that it would no longer pay for the nurse they needed and then actually told them they should consider giving Ian up for adoption.

That's when his mom and dad got really mad. They told their story in public, and the HMO was embarrassed. Because they fought for their baby, today Ian has the care he needs to stay alive. But no family in America should have to go on national television to save their child's life.

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GORE: You know...

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Dylan and Christine Malone are here with us tonight. Ian's here, too. And I say to them, and to all the families of America, I will fight for a real, enforceable patients' bill of rights.

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It's just wrong to have life-and-death medical decisions made by bean-counters at HMOs, who don't have a license to practice medicine, and don't have a right to play God. It's time to take the medical decisions away from the HMOs and insurance companies and give them back to the doctors and the nurses and the health care professionals.

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Let's make that a bipartisan issue.

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So this is not just an election between my opponent and me, it's about our people, our families and our future, and whether forces standing in your way will keep you from living a better life.

To me, this election is about Mildred Nystul, Jacqueline Johnson, Katarina Gutierrez, Ian Malone. It's about millions of Americans whose names we may never know, but whose needs and dreams must always be our calling. And so, here tonight, in the name of all the working families who are the strength and soul of America, I accept your nomination for president of the United States of America.

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I'm here to talk seriously about the issues. I believe people deserve to know specifically what a candidate proposes to do. I intend to tell you tonight.

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You ought to be able to know and then judge for yourself. If you entrust me with the presidency, I will put our democracy back in your hands and get all the special interest money, all of it, out of our democracy by enacting campaign finance reform.

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I feel so strongly about this, I promise you that campaign finance reform will be the very first bill that Joe Lieberman and I send to the United States Congress. It's time.

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Let others try to restore the old guard. We come to this convention as the change we wish to see in America.

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And what are those changes? At a time when most Americans will live to know even their great grandchildren, we will save and strengthen Social Security and Medicare, not only for this generation but for generations to come. At a time of almost unimaginable medical breakthroughs, we will fight for affordable health care for all, so patients end ordinary people are not left powerless and broke. We will move toward universal health coverage, step by step, starting with all children.

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Let's get all children covered by 2004.

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And...

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... and let's move to the day when we, at long last, end the stigma of mental illness and treat it like every other illness everywhere in this nation.

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And I thank you, Tipper, for leading the way.

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Within the next few years, scientists will identify the genes that cause every type of cancer. We need a national commitment equal to the promise of this unequaled moment. So we will double the federal investment in medical research. We will find new medicines and new cures not just for cancer but for everything from diabetes to HIV/AIDS.

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At a time when there is more computer power in a Palm Pilot than in the spaceship that took Neil Armstrong to the moon, we will offer all our people lifelong learning and new skills for the higher-paying jobs of the future.

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At a time when the amount of human knowledge is doubling every five years, and science and technology are advancing so rapidly, we will do bold things to make our schools the best in the world. I will fight for the greatest single commitment to education since the G.I. Bill.

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For revolutionary improvements in our schools, for higher standards and more accountability, to put fully qualified teachers in every classroom, test all new teachers and give teachers the training and professional development they deserve. It's time to treat and reward teachers like the professionals they are.

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It's not just about more money. It's about higher standards, accountability, new ideas. GORE: But we can't do it without new resources, and that's why I will invest far more in our schools. In the long run, a second-class education always costs more than a first-class education. And I will not go along with any plan that would drain taxpayer money away from our public schools and give it to private schools in the form of vouchers.

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This nation was a pioneer of universal public education. Now, let's set a specific new goal for the first decade of the 21st century: high-quality, universal pre-school, available to every child in every family, all across this nation.

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And, let's give middle-class families help in paying for college with tax-free college savings, and by making most college tuition tax deductible. Open the doors of learning to all.

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GORE: And all of this...

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AUDIENCE: Go, Al, go. Go, Al, go. Go, Al, go. Go, Al, go. Go, Al, go.