Remarks at a Fundraising Dinner for Governor Bob Martinez in Miami, Florida

Thank you very much, Bob. Thank you, Governor. In case you missed it, Bar and I are pretty proud of our son Jeb -- smiling away when I think Bob honored him by asking him to be his campaign chairman. To Mary Jane Martinez and our chairman, Van Poole; our able Secretary of the Interior way down there, Manuel Lujan -- was with me all day long today -- and of course, to my old friend, the doer, Alec Courtelis -- I'll tell you, he does everything to help others -- and to our outstanding United States Senator, Connie Mack, who is doing a superb job up there in Washington; and Members of the U.S. Congress Mike Bilirakis and Bill Grant, Craig James, Clay Shaw, Bill McCollum, Porter Goss, and of course, your own -- and Bar and I feel like our own -- Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, right from this district here -- and I might say, parenthetically, I am very proud of the team that her husband is putting together here in Miami to see that justice prevails -- I'm very proud of Dexter Lehtinen.

You know, when it comes to standing by Bob Martinez, Barbara and I are not going to let anything get in our way, as much as we hate having to leave Washington in January to come south to Florida. We'll do anything that's required of us. [Laughter]

As you know, I originally intended to come here in December. But as I told Bar, in order to meet with the most important man in the Soviet Union, I had to postpone a get-together with the most important man in Florida. Barbara said, "You know Dennis Erickson?" [Laughter] Of course, those of us who are fans of Hurricanes, we're not alone. Every time you changed the TV channel this year, there was another team from Florida out there. I might say to Dennis and to Sam, I look forward to seeing you at the White House to salute your fantastic record. But tonight we're talking about another champion: my early supporter, my friend, a great Republican, and -- as Jeb pointed out, and Alec, too -- a great chief executive. And I'm talking about Bob Martinez.

You know, in the next decade Florida will need his leadership as never before. Every year, the equivalent of the population of a new city even larger than Bob's Tampa moves to Florida. And some say this growth is a mixed blessing. Everyone loves the new businesses and the new jobs, but growth can also bring problems -- how to preserve the environment, to fight crime. Florida's growth is the proof of Florida's prosperity. So, what you need is a Governor who has always seeked the best for Florida, who will carefully weigh the needs of nature and man, who will make the most of economic opportunity while protecting your own very special way of life. And that's the kind of Governor you need, and that's the kind of Governor you've got, and that's the Governor that we must reelect.

Some leaders look only for immediate political gain. Bob Martinez -- he looks beyond the horizon to the stars. And this has been an incredible year of change -- promises to be a decade of change, beginning with the successful mission of the space shuttle Columbia. And now, thanks to Bob Martinez, American business is on the launch pad with Spaceport Florida.

And a President, too, must look to the far horizons, and the other great frontier of our time is the freedom frontier. The world in January 1990 is a very different place, very different than it was in January of 1989. Then the Berlin Wall seemed to be an impenetrable veil between East and West; now that Iron Curtain is open. And then a dictator reigned in Panama, and now the people rule in Panama. In fact, there are only two holdouts preventing a totally democratic hemisphere. So, let Daniel Ortega and Fidel take