Gore attacked Bush's plan to eliminate the estate tax entirely. Gore supports a proposal to reduce the tax by 80 percent, which he claimed would be fair to more people. Bush responded that the estate tax is inherently unfair. It's either unfair for some or unfair for all. Both candidates stressed their commitment to diversity, but differed on the semantics.
Quotas are bad for America.
Gore said that the Clinton administration was the most diverse in history, and that he would continue to press for minority involvement. In a pointed exchange, Gore asked Bush if he was in favor of affirmative action. Bush responded that he was not in favor of it as Gore defined it. Gore continued to press the issue, but Bush refused to comment, falling back on the debate rules, which limited direct exchanges between the two candidates. Although a town-meeting format might be expected to focus on domestic issues, foreign affairs questions were raised in light of events in the Middle East in the past week.