Cheney attacks VP's credibility

By Jeremy W. Peters

Daily Staff Reporter

JOYCE LEE/Daily

Republican vice-presidential candidate Dick Cheney speaks at the American Polish Cultural Center in Troy yesterday.

TROY - Republican vice presidential nominee Dick Cheney shifted into attack mode yesterday as both he and Democratic Vice President Al Gore visited Southeastern Michigan.

"Our opponent Al Gore has over the years failed to speak the truth," Cheney told a largely Republican crowd yesterday at the American Polish Cultural Center in Troy. Flanked by Gov. John Engler, the head of the Bush campaign in Michigan, Cheney was eager to point out what he said were falsities in Gore's rhetoric.

"Most recently we've seen him confuse the facts on the prescriptions of his mother-in-law and his dog," Cheney said in regard to Gore's incorrect statement last week that his mother-in-law was taking the same arthritis drug as his dog but paying far more for it.

Finding himself falling more and more into the traditional role of a presidential 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 people 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 failing 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 Election Day as they seek to capture the state's 18 electoral votes that analysts 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 statistical tie.

Engler said he is confident Michigan 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 $1,500 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.

"We also think it's right."