Bill Clinton's presidential campaign isn't built around a place called Hope this year. It's built on a bridge to the 21st century.
What Americans will find across that bridge, which Clinton claims is wide enough and strong enough to accommodate all Americans, is debatable and under fire by Republicans who claim Clinton has chosen a liberal path.
Clinton's campaign, however, has concentrated on a healthy economy, recent efforts to reform the federal government's approach to spending and Clinton's promises to secure futures in terms of education, health care and social security.
Much of the material for Clinton's campaign speeches aims to discredit the Dole economic plan.
"It's a $550-billion tax scheme that will blow a hole in the deficit," Clinton said in the first presidential debate this season.
Clinton's tax plan includes an increased gas tax and a $500 per-child tax deduction, coupled with his education plan to make higher education more accessible. Clinton has vowed to balance the federal budget, but opposes a constitutional amendment to do so, claiming it may endanger social security, Medicare and Medicaid programs, especially under a Republican Congress.
"We have to balance the budget," Clinton said. "Keep those interest rates down. It will keep the economy going. It will make that money more available to you."
Clinton's education initiatives have been the cornerstone to his "bridge" concept. His programs include a choice for families to receive either a $10,000 deduction per child per year for the first two years at a college or university or a $1,500 per-child per-year tax credit for two years at a community college.
"The education thing is so important to me," Clinton said during his speech at EMU yesterday. Clinton said Americans increase the probability of getting a good job by having at least two years of higher education.
One of Clinton's most elaborate initiatives of his '92 campaign and administration became one of the most criticized. Clinton's early efforts to extend health care coverage to all Americans resulted in a bill even Democrats who voted for it now admit tried to do too much, too soon.
"The instincts of the program were right even though the specifics were wrong," Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) said in a debate last month.
After the health care package failed, Clinton has continued his efforts to reform the system bit by bit.
"I just signed a bill (that states that) mothers and their newborn babies can't be kicked out of the hospital in 24 hours."
The issue on which Clinton/Gore supporters and opponents are divided this year is one that ties together the themes of government reform, economics and entitlements: welfare. Clinton wavered this summer before passing the Welfare Reform Act, but ultimately took a stand for what he said was a first step in recognizing the need for change in the welfare system.
"It now says to local states and communities you have two years to turn a welfare check into a paycheck," he said.
Clinton has encouraged employers to help the federal government effort by hiring welfare recipients.
"If you've ever criticized the welfare system in your life, and I think that counts for just about everyone in America, and you're an employer, you ought to think about hiring someone off welfare," he said.
Despite hesitations about Clinton's position on welfare reform, the president has maintained a significant lead over Dole in Michigan and throughout the campaign.
A reluctance by Bob Dole to publicly attack Clinton's character makes it even more natural for Clinton's White House record to be the central factor in the polls.
"The data seems to suggest (voters are assessing) Clinton in terms of his service rather than his personal character," said communication studies Prof. Michael Traugott.