Thomas jeffersons correspondence and other papers be accessiblewill to scholars and the public. [applause] good evening. Good evening from the civic center in philadelphia, pennsylvania. I am the president of the league of women voters, sponsor of tonights Vice President ial debate between republican george bush and democrat Geraldine Ferraro. Our panelists for tonights debate are the National Correspondent for u. S. News world report, jack white, correspondent for time magazine, normal quarrels, correspondent for nbc news, and robert boyd, Washington Bureau chief for knightridder newspapers. , politicalocher correspondent for abc news, is our moderator. A few words about the order of the format. The order of questioning was determined by a toss of the coin. Congresswoman ferraro elects to speak last so Vice President bush will get the first question. The debate will be built upon a series of questions from the reporters on the panel. A reporter will ask a candidate a question, a followup question, then the same to the other candidate, then each candidate will get to rebut the other. The debate will be divided into two parts. There will be a section in the first one about domestic affairs, a second on Foreign Affairs. The manner of address was decided by the candidates, therefore it will be Vice President bush, congresswoman ferraro. We begin with john. John adams, the nations one of the nations first president , said today i am nothing, tomorrow i may be everything. I would like to ask him a Vice President bush, four years ago, you ran against mr. Reagan for the republican nomination. You disagreed with him on such a sea use as the equal rights amendment, abortion and you labeled his economic policies as voodoo. You apparently agree with him on every issue now. If you should be called upon to assume the presidency, would you follow mr. Reagans policies down the line or would you revert to your own ideas . Vice pres. Bush i dont think there is a great difference between my ideas and president reagans. One of the reasons i think we are an Effective Team is that i believe firmly in his leadership. He has really turned this country around. We agree on the Economic Programs. When we came into office, him inflation was 12. 5 percent, Interest Rates wiping out every single american, 21. 5 if you can believe it. Productivity was down, savings was down, there was despair. The leadership of the country told the people that there was a e out there. Alais this president turned it around and i have been with him every step of the way. Of course i would continue those types of programs that have brought america back. America is better off. People are going back to work. And why mr. Mondale cant understand there is a new enthusiasm in this country, that america is back, there is new strong leadership, i dont know. He has one answer to the problem, raise everybodys taxes. He looked into the lens and said in san francisco, he said im going to raise your taxes. He has had a lot of experience in that and he is going to do it. I remember a statement of Lyndon Johnsons when he was looking around, why his party people werent supporting him, he said, they painted their tails white and ran with the antelope area there are lots of democratic white tails running with the antelopes. Not one democrat introduced the mondale tax bill into the congress. Of course i support the president s Economic Program and i support him and everything else. Im not sure because of my concept of the vice presidency, that if i didnt, i would go doing what mr. Mondale has done with jimmy carter, jump away from it. I couldnt do that to Ronald Reagan. Now, next year, or any other time. I have too much trust in him. I have too much friendship for him. And i would feel very uncomfortable doing that. Some republicans have criticized mr. Mondale for now claiming he disagreed privately with jimmy carters decision to impose the grain embargo. Have you ever disagreed with any decision of the Reagan Administration in its inner circle, and following that up, where is your judgment, where does loyalty and unprincipled begin . Vice pres. Bush i own my then i o my judgment, him loyalty. You cant have the president of the United States out there looking over his shoulder, wondering whether his Vice President is going to be supporting him. Mrs. Erraroro has quite a few differences with mondale. They are different on busing. She voted to extend the grain embargo and he says he was against it. If they win, and i hope they dont, but if they win, she will have to accommodate some views but she will give him the same kind of loyalty that i am giving president reagan. We are not far apart on anything. I can walk into that oval office any time and give him my judgment and he might agree or he might not, but he also knows i wont be talking about it to the press or knifing him in the back by leaking to make me look good and complicate the problems of the president of the United States. Congresswoman, your opponent served in the house of representatives. He has been ambassador to the United Nations and to china, director of the Central Intelligence agency and no Vice President for four years. How does your three terms in the house stack up against experience like that . Rep. Ferraro let me first say i wasnt born at the age of 43 when i entered congress. I did have a life before that. I was a prosecutor for almost five years and the district attorneys office, and a teacher. It is not only what is on your paper resume that makes you qualified to run for or hold office. It is how you approach problems and what your values are. I think if one takes a look at my career, they will seek i level with people. I approach problems analytically, i am able to assess various fact with reference to problems, and i can make the hard decisions. I am intrigued when i hear Vice President bush talk about him supporting the Economic Program and how everything is going beautifully. I to recall when Vice President bush was running in the primary against president reagan and he called the program voodoo economics, and it was, and it is. We are facing massive deficits. This administration has chosen to ignore it. The president has failed to put forth a plan to deal with those deficits, and if everything if he believes everything is coming up roses, the Vice President should perhaps join me as i speak to people around the country. People in pennsylvania are not terribly thrilled with the economy because they are staring into the light of a closed plant because they have lost their jobs. People in ohio have stores that are boarded up because the economy is not doing well. It is not only industries that are failing, it is the new industries. In california they are complaining because they cant export hightech quality goods to japan and other countries. The people in the northwest, in washington and oregon, are complaining that what is happening in the Timber Industry , so things are not as great as the administration wants us to believe in their television commercials. My feeling, frankly, is that i have enough experience to see the problems, address them, and make the tough decisions and level with people with reference to these problems. Despite the historic aspects of your candidacy, how do you account for the fact that a majority of women according to the polls favor the reaganbush take over the mondaleferraro ticket . Rep. Ferraro i am not a believer in polls. Let me say further that what we are talking about our problems that are facing the entire nation. They are not just problems facing women. The issues in this campaign are the war and peace issues, the problems of deficits and trade deficits. We are facing 120 billion for a deficit in this country, facing problems of the environment. I think what we will be doing over the next several weeks, and i am delighted that the league is sponsoring these debates and now speak to the American Public and address the issues in a way like this, i think you will see a change. Vice president bush, you have one minute to rebut. Vice pres. Bush i was glad to get that vote of confidence from o on my mrs. Ferrar economic judgment. The other day, she was in a plant and she said to the workers, why are you voting, why are so many of you voting for the reaganbush ticket . There was a long, deathly science and she said, we delivered. For not blaming her, except the liberal voting record in the house. They delivered. They delivered 21. 5 percent Interest Rates. They delivered what they called malaise. They delivered Interest Rates off the charts. They delivered takehome pay checks that were shrinking and we delivered on commitment. People are going back to work. 6 million of them. And 300,000 jobs a month being created. That is why there was the deathly silence in that plant. They delivered the wrong thing. Ronald reagan is delivering leadership. Congresswoman, one minute rebuttal. Rep. Ferraro i think what i will have to do is start correcting the Vice President s statistics. There are 6 million more people , in the jobs, which is Prior Administration they created 10 million jobs. The housing Interest Rates ring this administration for housing for middleclass americans was 14. 5 . Under the Prior Administration, with all their problems, the average rate was 10. 6 . If you look at the number of People Living in poverty as a result of this administration, 6 Million People. 500,000 people knocked off disability. You can walk around saying things are great and if that is what we are going to be hearing, we have been hearing it on commercials, i expect that i will become a onewoman squad and we will start tonight. Congresswoman, i would like to ask about civil rights. You have in the past been a supporter of tuition tax credits for private parochial schools and constitutional amendments to ban bussing. Both of the measures opposed not only by your running mate by just about every educational and Civil Rights Organization in the country. Have you changed your position on either of those . To. Ferraro with reference the bussing vote i cast in 1979, both mondale and diagram the same goal, nondiscrimination. I just dont agree on the same direction he does on how to achieve it but i dont find any problem with that. I think that has been handled by the courts, not handled by congress and wont be handled by the white house. We just we both support nondiscrimination. To tax credits, i represent a district in queens that is 70 catholic. Let me say i have also been a great supporter of public somethingnd that is fritz and i feel strongly about. This administration over the past several years has gutted the Educational Programs available to our young people. It has attempted to knock out pell grants, moneys to young individuals who are poor and cant afford to go to college. The amountced by 25 of moneys going into College Education and by one third the amount of those going into secondary and primary schools. But Fritz Mondale and i feel strongly that if you educate your children, that is the effort and way you build up and make a stronger america. With civil rights you have to go beyond that. If you look at my record in congress, and mondales record in the senate and Vice President , we have strong civil rights records. This administration does not. It has come in, in the bob jones case come on the side of segregated academies. It came in and the grove city case on the side of discrimination against women, the handicapped and the elderly. In congress we just passed overwhelmingly the civil rights bill of 1984. This administration, the Republicancontrolled Senate killed it in congress. There is a real difference between how the mondaleferraro administration will addressable rights and the failure of this administration in that area. On affirmativeaction what steps should government take to increase representation of minorities and womens in the work women in the workforce and colleges and universities . Would you support quotas . Rep. Ferraro i do not support the use of quotas. Mr. Mondale and i feel strongly about affirmative action to correct inequities. We believe steps should be taken both through government and the Small Business administration. Forave supported setasides minority and womens businesses. That is positive. We dont feel that you are in any way hurting anybody else by reaching out with affirmativeaction to help those who have been disenfranchised. On the contrary, if you have a growing economy, if you create the jobs, if you allow for Small Business the opportunity with lower Interest Rates to reach there will be more than enough space for everybody and affirmativeaction is a positive way to deal with the problem of discrimination. Many critics of the administration say it is the most hostile to minorities in recent memory. Have you inadvertently encouraged that few by supporting tuition tax credits, the antibussing amendment, citing Bob Jones University and the case before the Supreme Court, your opposition to the Voting Rights act and so forth . Vice pres. Bush i think a record on civil rights is a good record. You mentioned the Voting Rights extension that was extended for the lost the longest period of time by president reagan. But we have some problems in attracting the black vote. I think our record deserves better. We have done more for black colleges than any Previous Administration. We favor enterprise zones. It has been blocked by tip oneill and the house of representatives. The liberals in the house blocked a new idea to bring jobs into the black communities across this country. Because it is not an old handout special federal spending program, it is blocked, a good idea. I would like to see that pride. We have brought more civil rights cases in the Justice Department than the Previous Administration by far. We believe in trying something new to help these black teenage kids, the minimum wage differential that says look, to an employer, hire these guys. And yes, they are willing to work for slightly less than the minimum wage. Give them job training in the private sector. We threw out the bill that jobst train people for that existed, sibley ramped them onto the government payroll. We put in the jobtraining act, new legislation that is helping blacks more and more. We think of civil rights as crime in your neighborhoods. For example, when crime figures go in the right direction, that is good. That is a civil right. Similarly we think of it in terms of equality the quality of life. That means Interest Rates. It is funny, mr. Mondale talks about real Interest Rates. The real Interest Rate is what you pay when you get out and try to buy a tv set or a car or do whatever it is. The Interest Rates, we left our office, when he left office, were 21. 5 . You are busting american families. We have a good record. We have it on civil rights legislation, minority setaside, help for black colleges and we have it in terms of an economy offering people opportunity and hope instead of despair. Along those lines, sir, many recent studies indicated that the poor and minorities havent really shared in the new prosperity generated by the current economic recovery. Was it right for your administration to pursue policies, economic policies that required those at the bottom of the economic ladder to wait for prosperity to trickle down from people who are much better off than they echo than they . Vice pres. Bush it is not trickling down. I am suggesting the way to work out of poverty is the real opportunity. In the meantime, the needy are getting more help. Human resource spending his way, way up. Aid for dependent children spending is up. Immunization programs are up. Almost every place you can point, contrary to mr. Mondale i have to be careful. Goes aroundhow he saying everything is bad, if somebody sees a silver lining, he finds a big black cloud out there. Whine on, harvest moon. There are lots of opportunities. Congresswoman, your rebuttal. Rep. Ferraro the Vice President says the president signed the Voting Rights act. That was after he did not support it while it was in the congress and the senate. It was passed despite his opposition and he did sign it because he was required to do so. In the civil rights cases he mentioned, a great number of cases they were forced they enforced, they were forced to do that and i am delighted the administration is following the law. [applause] be outse me, this will of my time, not yours. Knowing and cherishing the people of this city and knowing their restraint and diffidence about a motion, especially in a context