LOCAL/STATE The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, September 27, 2000 --9 tu den ts hit Gore with range ~ftopics MTV Continued from Page 1 last night, LSA senior Brian Babb asked the Democratic vice president about his feelings on hip hop music. Babb said hip hop is a form of social statement and handed Gore a Mos Def Gore, who has criticized the record industry's marketing tactics toward children-,said he'd listen to the CD and e-mail Babb his opinion on the music. Throughout the 90-minute forum, Gore outlined his plans to address stu- dents' issues: He wants to improve access to higher education through tax breaks and increases in federal grant oney; verify the guilt of those on th row through new DNA testing; and protect a woman's right to an abor- tion. At the end students lobbed one- liner inquiries about everything from the most influential historical moment and whether he has ever cheated on a test. LSA senior Allyson Davis, the first student to ask a question, probed Gore on- protection from violence in schoolN, avis said despite the extensive ition process, MTV executives did not instruct her what to ask. "They didn't ask me to say any- thing," she-said. "In a setting like this it has to be contrived somewhat," Davis said. "He skirted around the issues a little bit. I was satisfied, but I wasn't thrilled." Outsjde the Media Union and unseen to the television audience, e students who definitely will not be voting for Gore held a rally to show their support for Republican Texas Gov. George W. Bush. "Were trying to get out the message that under Al Gore's leadership, the U.S. has fallen into an educational recession," said Michigan Bush/Cheney 2000 Youth Director Adam Killian, an LSA senior. MTV has invited Bush to participate the same forum but has not yet eived an answer Followint the MTV taping. Gore spoke to senior citizens at the Ann Arbor Community Center about his Medicare plan, which he formally unveiled Monday. GORE Continued from Page 1 more spontaneous than the portions broadcast on television. One audience member expressed concern about the lack of attention given to residents in states that already have been locked up by either candidate. "That's just the nature of the process," Gore said. Michigan, a state considered to be a major battleground, has not been deprived of visits by any of the political candidates. But it is the "process" that many young people across the nation have grown cynical about. "That part of the process I think is just human nature. It's always been that way," Gore later told reporters. "It's been that way since George Washington's time." Gore also discussed what he believes can and should be changed in the electoral process. "There are things about the political process that are unacceptable. The role of money is way too big," he said. Campaign finance is at the top of Gore's list of reforms. He said he supports public financing of campaigns and intends to sign the McCain- Feingold Campaign Finance Reform Bill as the first piece of legislation in his administration. But his devotion to the subject has not hin- dered his use of money from large corpora- tions and at the MTV forum one audience member questioned Gore's use of financial backing from corporate contributors. Gore said although he does advocate the public financing of elections, he cannot run a campaign with "one hand tied" behind his back, which would impede his chances against Republican Texas Gov. George W Bush. Gore cited two things that can help heal stu- dents' cynicism toward government: First is the need for campaign finance reform and the second is the need to have "forthright, candid discussion of what our choices are, without trying to sugarcoat some of the options that we have to consider now," Gore said. . During the MTV forum, Gore said that if elected president he plans to continue meeting with young people, giving them an opportunity to have their voices heard. "I think that young people for their part need to push past any fear of disillusionment and disappointment and roll up their sleeves as previous generations have," Gore later told reporters, "to get involved and make our country a better place. And I think more of them are beginning to do that." The increased cynicism towards the political processes have driven some students toward third-party candidates such as Ralph Nader, who was on campus last week trying to appeal to students while attacking Democrats. But Gore did not seem very concerned about losing student votes to Nader. "I think that in the final analysis, as we get close to the election the majority of people are going to want to vote in the contest between the candi- dates that they themselves think are most likely to be the finalists of whom the president is picked," Gore said. ALE WvL/ aiy Vice President Al Gore discusses his Medicare proposal to senior citizens at the Ann Arbor Community Center yesterday. CHENEY Continued from Page 1 Finding himself falling more and more into the traditional role of a presi- dential running mate, Cheney has been increasingly critical of Gore in the past two weeks. A more reserved Cheney met with reporters after his speech and spoke more specifically of his and Texas Gov. George W. Bush's proposals. As Gore used an MTV town hall forum to court University students in Ann Arbor, Cheney also made an appeal to young voters. "We want to make it easier for peo- ple to finance higher education. We want to significantly expand the Pell Grant," he said. "A lot of young people are idealistic," Cheney said. "The fact that we have so many people behind because of our fail- ing school system ... we need to be able to say to those people that they have a shot at the American dream." Michigan voters can expect to see a lot of both presidential candidates and their running mates before Elec- tion Day as they seek to capture the state's 18 electoral votes that ana- lysts say at this point are still up for grabs. Engler was quick to point out that polls conducted within the last week no longer give Gore a significant lead. "We consider Michigan dead even," he said, adding that the margin of error in most national polls creates a statisti- cal tie. Engler said he is confident Michi- gan voters will stand behind Bush. "Al Gore, through his regulatory and tax policies, will put the breaks on Michigan," he said. Cheney said he expects his and Bush's stance on key issues will help them prevail in the end. Education is one of these. The Bush education plan would require failing schools to improve their test scores or risk losing their Title I funds, which amount to S I,500 per student each year. "Then the parents would be able to decide," Cheney said. "We're talking about choice in what to do with Title I money. You can call it vouchers, but we're not wording it that way." Fiscal policy is another issue Cheney said should swing Michigan voters toward the GOP ticket. "With respect to who benefits, you know, there's the charge that it's only for the upper class," he said. "At the lower end of the scale, we take something like 6 million people off the tax rolls. We think it's good long-term economic strategy. 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