From the very beginning of his service in the U.S. House 24 years ago, he said, he's been "fighting for working men and women, and against the special interests when necessary." His allowance that his fight has been "when necessary" was the last time that he allowed the crowd an undefended glimmer of the compromising soul that Nader loves to bash.

The next president may pick up to four Supreme Court justices, he said, who will "interpret our constitutional rights for the next 30-40 years. Young people in this audience will have children who are your age, and have children of their own, living under interpretations of the Constitution shaped and determined by the presidential election just 12 days from now," he said rather confusingly. "Think about it! Women's rights are at stake! Disability rights are at stake! Civil rights are at stake, labor rights are at stake, individual rights are at stake, federalism is at stake!"

"Think long and hard about it!" he admonished.

Those who argue that it doesn't make a difference whether Bush or Gore picks the next few Supreme Court justices are dead wrong, Gore said, "for those whose life and lives are on the line" such an attitude "is a luxury of indifference and ironic detachment and cynicism that they cannot afford!"

Gore laid out his traditional speech, blasting Bush's proposed tax cut for the wealthy while also promising to balance the budget and pay down the debt -- but he explained to the crowd why such New Democracy fiscal discipline was important.

"I'll balance the budget every year," Gore said, "not because it makes for a nice slogan! But because we have learned that progressive priorities fare better when we balance the budget and keep interest rates low ... In the past, there has been the temptation for those of us with progressive values to think that if you didn't overpromise, if you weren't willing to just throw caution to the wind and bust the budget, then you weren't willing to throw your whole heart into a particular challenge."

"But we've learned better than that!" Gore said. "Because when we demonstrate -- and people with progressive values -- that we can manage the government, keep it focused on the essential tasks, not waste money and actually do what we set out to do, then we redeem the promise of representative democracy and rekindle the spirit of America and make our country what it should be!!!"

Telling the crowd about the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report, which concludes that temperatures will rise by up to 11 degrees Fahrenheit by the end of this century if greenhouse gases are not curtailed, Gore slammed Bush as a polluter and touted himself as Eco-Man. "For 24 years, I have never backed down or given up on the environment, and I never will in my whole life!" Gore bellowed.

"I guaran-damn-tee it!"

Gore then made like a kind of Nader figure himself, one man against the world. And in doing so, he mentioned Nader for the first time as a tool in a vast conspiracy against him. The mention came just hours after Gore had told an Iowa TV station that the whole "A vote for Nader is a vote for Bush" argument is one that he himself wouldn't want to emphasize.

"The big polluters, the big oil companies, the chemical manufacturers, they are goin' AWWLLL OUT to try to defeat me and my agenda!" Gore said. "They are going all out -- and let me tell ya what they would like to say to you in Wisconsin. If the big oil companies and the chemical manufacturers and the other big polluters were able to communicate a message to this state, they would say: 'Vote for George Bush OORRR'" -- pause -- "'in any case, vote for Ralph Nader.'"

BOOOOOO! went the crowd. They were booing Nader, not Gore. The Nader supporters booing Gore were cordoned off blocks away.

These big polluters, Gore said, were they to convene and plot Election 2000, "would say, 'Whatever you do, don't vote for Al Gore, because he's the one that we know has 24 years of experience, a burning passion in his heart to solve this problem!' That's why I'm ASKING for your support! I need your help, Wisconsin!!!"

Gore laid out other bad guys -- "big drug companies," "big insurance companies and HMOs" and other allies of Bush taken right from a succession of John Grisham novels.

And Gore laid out their evil plots, taking a cue from his fellow Tennessee Democrats' predilection for melodrama.

"It is morally wrong for your doctor who has gone t' medical skewl, and had an internship at a hospital, and gained experience, and cares about your health, and has examined you, and knows what's in your best interests, and he gives you a recommendation, it is morally wrong for his or her recommendation to be overruled by some young bean counter behind a computer terminal at an HMO, who doesn't have a license to practice medicine and should not have the right to play God!"

"You KNOW it's wrong!" Gore shouted, decrying the failure of the patients bill of rights to pass Congress. But the "big HMOs and insurance companies have a hammerlock on too many of the politicians with their contributions!!!" Gore sneered.

"And that's why we need [Sen.] Russ Feingold's campaign finance reform bill," Gore said, referring to the lesser known (and less cited, especially by Gore) Wisconsin Democrat who paired up with Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., to offer a Senate bill to ban soft money. Gore has pledged to send the McCain-Feingold bill up as his first piece of legislation, and he repeated the pledge Thursday.

"And when I send it to the Congress it won't be a symbolic act!!!" Gore said. "I'll faight like HEYLL for it!!" Gore said he'd do the same thing for a prescription drug benefit for seniors. "I will flat make it happen!" he said. "I will expose what the opponents are doing."

"But listen," Gore said, winding down, "it's up to you. Because these special interests have way too much power. And they are hoping that you will either vote for George Bush, ORRR" -- pause -- "cast your vote in a way that will not affect the outcome," he said, reverting back to the candidate who never heard of Nader.

"Here's what it comes down to, my friends: Once every four years, the people of this nation have a fleeting opportunity for ONE DAY to speak more loudly and decisively than AWWLL of the special interests put together. There's ONE DAY when you have the power, when you have the opportunity. And lemme tell you, the special interests FEAR that day!

"They TREMBLE at the THOUGHT that you will somehow SHAKE OFF the efforts to CONFEWSE YOU!

"They are FEARFUL that somehow their MILLIONS of DOLLARS of campaign advertising designed to FUUHZZ UHP all the ISSUES won't work!

"They TREMBLE that you will somehow PENETRATE to the real issues and make use of the power that our Founders who gave us our freedom, who wrote our Constitution, gave you 224 years ago.

"THAT DAY IS 12 DAYS FROM TODAY! NOVEMBER 7TH! I NEED YOUR HELP!!!"

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