Hughes is surrounded by reporters, camera crews and boom mikes on a chilly, windy tarmac. The gymnasium at Penn Valley Community College is packed with Democrats and union workers. Gore gives his standard campaign speech, but spices it up with sassy remarks about Bush's gaffe about Social Security. The Bush campaign is suggesting the Democrats were secretly behind the revelation about the drunken-driving conviction. It's outrageous for them to suggest that we had anything to do with it.
Thousands more watch a large television screen outside in the sun.
Wearing a blue suit, red tie and white shirt, Bush finishes reading a speech off a TelePrompTer in which he criticizes the Clinton administration for letting the military deteriorate. But at the end, he strays from the script. It has become clear to the American people in the course of this campaign that I've made mistakes in my life. And I'm proud to tell you I've learned from those mistakes. The charter plane carrying the Gore press corps is decorated like a fraternity house.