National Issues Convention

January 21

Vice President Gore, appearing in place of President Clinton, began by praising the National Issues Convention and the randomly-selected citizens who participated.

"I had the chance to read about you and a summary of the materials that you've been working with. I think it's a wonderful development. And if there's anybody in this group who wonders whether this is going anywhere or has accomplished anything, you should stop wondering, because I think it has been a tremendous success and I think you've started something great here.

The first questioner asked how the Clinton Administration would address the growing income disparity in the country. Gore ticked off several proposals: to raise the minimum wage, continue and expand the Earned Income Tax Credit for low-income workers, and to expand access to student loans. Then, as PBS host Jim Lehrer looked on, Gore took over the moderator's role. He turned a question back to the delegate, St. Paul real estate appraiser Paul Sellwood.

Gore: "Let me ask you, did your group talk about raising the minimum wage?"

Sellwood: "Yes, we did."

Gore: "What was the general--. Did anybody change their minds about that when you talked about it?"

Sellwood: "I don't know if anybody changed that on whether that does any good. That might put more of a burden on the small business owner than it does helping the employee, which, the end result of that might be disastrous. When you tried to help somebody it might backfire."

Gore: "Is it all right for me to ask for a show of hands, Jim?"

Lehrer: "You're the Vice President." (laughter)

Gore: "I'm interested in what the people here have thought during the discussions and after. How many people are in favor of raising the minimum wage now? How many people opposed? Would you all think that is a little bit different from when you came here? I see a lot of heads nodding."

Lehrer: "Now you're getting into the deliberative poll business, Mr. Vice President."

The show of hands appeared to show a strong majority in favor of a higher minimum wage. Gore later asked delegates if they thought the wealthy should pay a higher tax rate than middle-income and poor people. The show of hands appeared roughly split. Moderator Lehrer then asked Gore to stop asking questions that would be on the deliberative poll.

Unlike the four Republican candidates who had to share a 90-minute session with the delegates, Gore had the luxury of one hour to himself. Republicans Lugar, Forbes, Gramm, and Alexander answered questions in punchy, campaign-style language, while Gore seemed more comfortable in the seminar-like atmosphere of the convention. He explained his answers at length, and placed them in the context of the ideological discussions the delegates had been in for two days. Like the Republicans, Gore ran into questioners who clearly didn't like his answers. Chris McCall of Tempe, Arizona was unsatisfied with Gore's explanation of U.S. involvement in Bosnia.

Gore: "If we hadn't done it, the slaughter would have continued and gotten worse and might well have spread to include Greece and Turkey and might well create a larger war that would lead to hundreds of thousands of troops being involved in a war, not tens of thousands being involved in keeping a peace."

McCall: "You know what? I think we kind of heard almost two answers to that. I think the sentiment that most people feel, especially with respect to Bosnia, is that, first of all, Americans are a very caring country and we pull together when there's a problem like no other country on the planet. However, I think a good portion of us are frustrated with our foreign policy because we see the United States running off and spending money and troops to solve issues in other countries where we don't feel we have a national interest and that we see that we have these big problems at home."

McCall said if Bosnia becomes a war with larger ramifications, it will be because the U.S. placed troops there.

Delegates were to take a post-convention survey after their forum with Gore. The survey is meant to reveal whether deliberation has changed the delegates' opinions. Organizer Jim Fishkin says the poll will show what American voters would think if they were more fully engaged in political debate. Some analysts are not so sure the experiment will accomplish that. Some have questioned whether the population sample is representative, because some of those invited did not come. Others say delegates did not get enough factual information to be considered 'informed' after two days of discussion. But even most critics say the National Issues Convention is a useful experiment. Convention organizers aren't saying whether they'll release the results of the final poll before they're announced as part of a documentary by co-sponsor PBS next Friday.

For Democracy Place, I'm John Biewen in Austin, Texas.