Following are excerpts from last night's debate between Vice President Al Gore and former senator Bill Bradley:
BRADLEY: I think there's only one reason to vote for me as opposed to anybody else - whether it's the vice president or whether it's a Republican candidate - and that is because you think that my leadership would improve the quality of life for millions of Americans today, that you agree with my vision of where the country should go ... and that you recognize that by your participation in the process that America can become what I've laid it out to be.
GORE I would like to have your support for me because I want to fight for you. A president can fight for all the people. ... I favor public financing of elections. I favor the McCain-Feingold bill. I don't accept PAC money. I strictly abide by the $1,000 limit, and I have the smallest average contribution in the race.
BRADLEY: ... If a gay American can serve openly in the White House, in Congress, in the courts, in the Treasury Department, in the attorney general's office, why can't they serve openly in the US military? ... I am against all discrimination. ... And the place to deal with that is the 1964 Civil Rights Act, adding sexual orientation to the list of protected classes.
GORE: ...I'm for domestic partnerships having legal protections, but not the same sacrament, not the same name, because I favor protecting the institution of marriage as it has been understood between a man and a woman. ... most gay and lesbian leaders, and certainly most civil rights groups leaders, have argued against opening up the 1964 Civil Rights Act.
GORE: ... Global warming is a real problem. Air pollution is a real problem. Water pollution is a real problem. We've got to clean up the toxic waste sites. ... A president of the United States who is committed to cleaning up the environment ... can make a huge difference.
BRADLEY: We have two challenges: one is to clean up that which has already been polluted - Clean Water Act; Clean Air Act; Solid Waste Disposal Act; the Superfund Cleanup Act; and then second, to protect areas which have not been polluted from becoming polluted.
