Exchange With Reporters in San Francisco

2000 Presidential Election

Q. Mr. President, do you have any message for Nader supporters in California or elsewhere? Do you have any message for Nader supporters about what they should do?

The President. I think they ought to vote for Al Gore, for several reasons. One is, our administration, as I just said, has the best environmental record in history. And we could have done even more if the Congress hadn't been so opposed to it. But every year, we also, for 6 years, had to beat back any number of antienvironmental provisions in the law that we keep getting out and getting out. So Al Gore has been at the forefront of that.

I think now that the economy is better and the Congress is likely to be, under any circumstances, less dominated by the Republican right in the next Congress, Al Gore will be able to do even better. It would be a great mistake to not support somebody who has got a lifetime commitment—and we've got a record that's good—in favor of another option, of a party that's really promised to undo a lot of what we've done. I don't think it's a complicated issue here.

Q. Do you think they're throwing their votes away if they do that?

The President. They'll have to decide that. I just know that—there are one of two people are going to be elected, and they have records and plans. And I think on the records and plans, if you care about the environment, Gore wins hands down.

Thanks. Thank you.