Gore-Lieberman to Meet With Tampa, Florida Firefighters Today
LINDA STOUFFER, CNN ANCHOR: In just about a half hour, Democratic presidential nominee Al Gore will sit down for breakfast with a group of firefighters in Tampa, Florida. It's part of a sleep- deprived campaign run to bolster support in some key battleground states. CNN's Tony Clark is up this early, too. He joins us from Tampa with a look at what's ahead for Gore and his running mate, Joe Lieberman. Good morning to you, Tony.</s>TONY CLARK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning. I think we haven't been to bed yet. The vice president is about 12 hours into his 27- hour-long, nonstop campaign. We're now -- right now, we're at -- in Tampa, Florida, but the campaign began in Philadelphia yesterday afternoon. In Philadelphia, the vice president and his running mate, Sen. Joe Lieberman, met with construction workers. They talked about economic prosperity, but added that there are still many people that have not received the benefits of that economic prosperity and he wants to spread it to all of them. Speaking to workers at a hotel that's being constructed entirely by union workers, he said that the labor members are traditional Democratic Party supporters and he called on them to support them again. Away from the crowd, he voiced disappointment over Gov. George Bush's proposal accepting only one of three planned debates sponsored by the Presidential Debate Commission.</s>VICE PRES. AL GORE (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It's not about Gov. Bush, it's not about me, it's about the American people, and it's about giving the American people the chance they deserve to make an informed judgment as to who they want to be the next president of this country.</s>CLARK: From Philadelphia, it was on to Flint, Michigan. And around a midnight meeting shift change with hospital workers, it was a chance for him to stress his medical packages, hospital care package. He said he wants to take away medical decision-making from HMOs and what he called "bean counters" sitting at computers and give those decisions back to the doctors and nurses. And he won a large round of applause then. From there, as the day changed, he came on to Tampa, Florida. It is here that he is currently at a diner talking to people here. And in about a half hour from now, he will meet with firefighters, have breakfast with firefighters. He's going to a number of states. He will end up in Kentucky later today. He'll make one more stop back in Pennsylvania. So it is, Linda, a long day for the Gore campaign, but one that allows him to talk a lot about economics to what he says are his key supporters.</s>STOUFFER: And, Tony, when you look at the states that he's visiting today, and Florida in particular, does Gore think he has a shot at winning Florida, even though, of course, the Republican candidate's brother is the governor there.</s>CLARK: See, that's the key on all of these states, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Florida, Michigan. These are toss-up states where he has a good chance. And he's seeing here in Florida his ratings in the polls increase surprisingly because Jeb Bush, the Texas governor's brother, is the governor here. And so that's why he's spending so much time, that's why he's hitting these states, because he believes -- the Gore- Lieberman campaign believe they have a chance to carry these in November.</s>STOUFFER: Tony Clark, thank you very much.