Bill Clinton: “Now, look to tomorrow. What's this election about? Number one, we've got to come back in January and decide all over…”

“Now, look to tomorrow. What's this election about? Number one, we've got to come back in January and decide all over again if we're going to squander the surplus or save it and buckle down and fix Social Security. Number two, the major education initiative that we did not adopt was to provide for 5,000 new or reconstructed schools so that we'll have thousands of classrooms for those 100,000 teachers to teach in. Carol Moseley-Braun was the first Member of the United States Congress to come out for that--the very first one. This has been her deal all along, and we are going to achieve that in January. We are going to pass the school construction program in January, because the American people are overwhelmingly for it, if they will just vote for it on election day. Number three, among the many things we did not do in this session of Congress was to pass the patients' HMO bill of rights. That may not mean anything to some people. It basically means, if you're in an HMO, you have a right to see a specialist if your doctor says you need to see one; you have a right to go to nearest emergency room if you get hurt; you have a right to keep your doctor during a period of treatment, even if your employer changes health care providers; and you have a right to privacy in your medical records. The bottom line is that health care decisions will be made by medical professionals, not by accountants. It is no mean thing. It is a big, big issue. Over 160 million of us are in managed care. Carol Moseley-Braun was for our bill. It was defeated in the House. It was defeated in the Senate by the members of the other party who did not support it. The third thing we have to do is to finally pass campaign finance reform. The fourth thing we have to do is to pass the bill--all year long we waited--to protect our children from the dangers of tobacco, the biggest public health problem in the country today. And finally, we should pass a minimum wage increase. It's hard to support a family on $5.15 an hour. The only reason we didn't pass it this year is that the other party was completely against it, even though the unemployment rate is low, inflation is low, and we can do this and actually help the economy. The last time we raised the minimum wage a few years ago, they told me the unemployment rate would go up and job growth would go down. Well, job growth went up, and the unemployment rate went down. So that's what this is about. This Senator has a good record. I just mentioned all these issues, and I asked you if you thought if her opponent had been there, would he have voted with me. You said no. Now, who is going to vote to save Social Security first? Who is going to be more likely to give the American people and the people of Illinois, for the very first time in our history, this innovative program to build world-class schools for the 21st century? Who is going to be more likely to pass campaign finance reform, to stand up for the health interest of our children, to stand up for the interest of working families? I think you know the answer to that. I think you know the answer to that. What I want to say to you is that I'm grateful for your presence here. I'm grateful for your contributions. I thank you for helping her in this way. But it is not enough, because it is not enough in this election to persuade people that you have the better side of the argument. You heard what Carol said. You also have to persuade them that the argument is worth their going to vote on election day. And every one of you, you have employees; you have friends who have employees; you have other people you know who have contact with large networks of people. This election will be determined not simply by who has the better side of the argument, or what people agree with in terms of what ought to be done, but who shows up. And so I think here in Chicago--and this is what Hillary told me to say, by the way. She called me right before I got off the plane. She said, here in Chicago you would understand that the only poll that counts is the poll that's manifest when people actually move away from their telephone and show up at the polling place. So I ask every one of you to think about this. Believe me, we are shaping the future of 21st century America. Look at where we are now compared to where we were 6 years ago. Whatever anybody else tells you about the issues, on every single critical decision I have had to make for 6 years to affect the welfare and the future of America, that required a vote in Congress to support, Carol Moseley-Braun was there with me, standing with me, supporting me, trying to make this a better country with a better future. She was the very first person in America, in the entire Congress, to say we ought to have a national school construction program for 21st century schools and smaller classes. She has supported all these other issues. She deserves--but more importantly, you deserve, your children deserve, this State deserves to be represented in the Senate by somebody who has that kind of vision and that kind of courage and that kind of willingness to put herself on the line. So I ask you, don't give up. Bear down. We can win, if you do your part. Thank you, and God bless you.”