EW YORK - Al Gore proposed $38 billion yesterday in incentives and tax breaks to improve child care nationwide, appealing to millions of parents with visions of better training and higher standards for the people who care for their children.
He dealt with a few of those children, sitting cross-legged on the floor and singing the A-B-C song to help a group of four put together an alphabet puzzle.
After playtime, the Democratic presidential candidate told parents, teachers, and children stuffed into a classroom at Children's All Day School that, if elected, he would spend the money over the next decade to help parents lower their taxes - whether they send their kids to day care or keep them home - and to reward states that demand improvements in child care programs.
''It all comes down to what kind of value do we place on the children of this country,'' Gore said. ''I think they are our future. It's kind of cliched, but certainly true, and if we all believe it, we need to put our money where our mouths are.''
The vice president sat on a stool alongside his wife, Tipper, and talk show host Rosie O'Donnell, a Gore supporter and longtime child advocate with a foundation that supports child-care centers in urban areas.
The federal incentives proposed by Gore would be awarded by the Department of Health and Human Services to states that promise reforms in areas ranging from workers' pay to background checks to reading programs.
''In a lot of states there are just no standards, there's not even a criminal background check to see if abusers are hired, there's no training, there's a very high turnover with low wages for these people, and the job they're doing is critical,'' Gore told ABC's ''Good Morning America'' before he went to the school.
His child-care proposals could appeal in particular to women, whose support has fluctuated from poll to poll this spring. In some polls, Gore has had a single-digit lead among women, while he and Republican George W. Bush have been roughly even in others.
Parents in general have been a problem for Gore in some polls. Earlier this spring, he was behind by double digits among parents in a Voter.com-Battleground poll. A more recent Pew poll showed Bush and Gore about even among this group.
