Remarks By Al Gore
                       Seattle Economic Innovation Forum 

                       Tipper and I are in Seattle, one of our great capitals of
                       creativity and economic innovation, to talk about one of the
                       most fundamental challenges for America's future: how we
                       keep our economy strong - and lead the world in the new
                       global economy of the 21st Century. 

                       America has always looked forward, to the next horizon. 

                       Near the beginning of this century, when my mother was a
                       child in West Tennessee, a poor girl when poor girls were not
                       supposed to dream, she looked out on a world where women
                       could not even vote, and saw with her heart something better:
                       a horizon of equality, where women, as well as men, could be
                       and do their best. 

                       Halfway through this century, when my father saw that
                       thousands of his fellow Tennesseans were forced to obey Jim
                       Crow laws, he knew America could do better. 

                       He saw a horizon in which his black and white constituents
                       shared the same hopes in the same world. He fought against
                       the Southern Manifesto and for voting rights. His last election
                       was lost -- but his conscience won. He taught me all my life
                       that that was what counted. 

                       Today, just visible within a generation's journey, is a new
                       horizon: a 21st Century America with stronger families,
                       stronger communities, and a more vital democracy -- in which
                       we live and govern according to our highest American ideals. 

                       I love this country with all my heart. I believe in its future.
                       And I know that with our history as our rudder and our ideals
                       as our compass, we can reach our new horizon. 

                       And so today, I ask you to join with me, to keep our economy
                       growing and to bring a new wave of fundamental change to
                       this nation - starting with revolutionary improvements in our
                       public schools. 

                       I ask you to join with me, to build safe and livable
                       communities, where we protect our environment, and restore
                       the quality of life we deserve. 

                       I ask for your help to strengthen family life in America. And I
                       make you this pledge: if you entrust me with the Presidency, I
                       will marshal its authority, its resources, and its moral
                       leadership to fight for America's families. 

                       With your help, I will take my own values of faith and family to
                       the Presidency - to build an America that is not only better off,
                       but better. And that is why, today in Seattle, I announce that I
                       am a candidate for President of the United States. 

                       The foundation of all our progress must be a strong and
                       abundant prosperity. 

                       Under President Clinton's leadership, we have built a strong
                       and growing economy. For many of our families, it is a time of
                       firsts: first child to go to college, first mortgage for a first
                       home, first regular paycheck. 

                       Instead of the biggest deficits in history, we now have the
                       biggest surpluses. Instead of quadrupling our national debt,
                       we've seen the creation of almost 19 million new jobs. Instead
                       of a deep recession and high unemployment, America now has
                       our strongest economy in history. 

                       I remember what it was like seven years ago. Even the
                       innovation that was blooming here in Washington State was
                       being stifled by a huge deficit and rising interest rates. It was
                       like asking Ken Griffey, Jr., to swing a lead bat. And I never,
                       ever want to go back. 

                       I want to keep our prosperity going - and I know how to do it.
                       I want to do it the right way - not by letting people fend for
                       themselves, or hoping for crumbs of compassion, but by giving
                       people the skills and knowledge to succeed in their own right
                       in the next century. 

                       I want to extend our prosperity to the unskilled and
                       underprivileged, to Appalachia and the Mississippi Delta, to our
                       farms and inner cities - to all who have been left behind. 

                       And I want to lay the foundation for groundbreaking economic
                       innovation -- so that America is the world capital of prosperity
                       in the new century just beginning. 

                       Today, the true engines of growth today are ideas. More
                       innovation means more jobs, more growth, higher wages,
                       higher productivity, and lower costs throughout our economy. 

                       I will be talking throughout this campaign about my economic
                       ideas for the 21st Century. Yesterday, I offered five proposals
                       to help foster the innovation we need for the jobs you deserve.
                       Today, I want to discuss them with all of you. 

                       First, we need to continue our strong overall economic growth.
                       I know what works. I will balance the budget or better -- every
                       year. I will search out every last dime of waste and
                       bureaucratic excess. I know how to do that. And I will ask
                       Congress for the power to reach new trade agreements, and
                       open new markets to our goods and services -- but I will also
                       ask for, and use, the authority to negotiate labor and
                       environmental protections whenever necessary. 

                       Second, I will fight to extend and expand tax cuts for research
                       and development - so the private sector can invest in the jobs
                       and discoveries of the future. And I will craft these tax cuts be
                       specifically to help the small businesses and start-ups that are
                       so crucial to our high-tech future. 

                       Third, I will double our investment in information technology
                       over five years. And I will work to bring together the worlds of
                       biomedical research and information technology -- by helping
                       to create 20 centers of excellence in biomedical computing on
                       the campuses of our finest schools. 

                       That way, we can deliver on the limitless potential for new
                       treatments, diagnostics, and personalized medicine created by
                       the Human Genome Project. 

                       Fourth, as I press for free and fair trade around the world, I
                       will work to keep international tariffs off of Internet commerce.
                       I want to keep the Internet a duty-free, global free trading
                       zone. 

                       Fifth, we need to make sure that as innovation changes our
                       economy, workers can keep up. That's why I will create new
                       401(j) savings accounts -- to encourage workers to save for
                       their own training, and provide tax cuts for those who do. And
                       I will expand lifelong learning, so that every adult who needs
                       training or retraining can get it. 

                       These are my new proposals to spur innovation for the 21st
                       Century - an agenda of high technology, high skills for our
                       people, and tax cuts for innovation. 

                       We are just beginning to reap the gains of the Information
                       Age. I've seen the benefits in this state -- from the Microsoft
                       CEO Summit I attended here a couple of years ago, to
                       companies I visited, such as Amazon.com, RealNetworks, and
                       Boeing, where the new 777 was designed entirely by
                       computers. 

                       Some of you may know that Washington State has the
                       second-highest disparity between urban and rural wages in the
                       nation. High technology and innovation can help bridge this
                       gap, and create one Washington. We have to move toward
                       that goal. 

                       But some want to move our economic strategy backward, not
                       forward. Some will peddle the same trickle-down travesty that
                       gave us huge deficits, low growth, and rising inequality.
                       America cannot move into the new and global economy with
                       the old and broken policies of the past. I want to move
                       America forward, toward a horizon of boundless growth, high
                       technology, and unleashed creativity. 

                       And now I'd like to take your questions, and talk about some
                       more of the details of my strategy for a new prosperity in the
                       21st Century.

