 Archmour has told me about this, but thank you all for that wonderful mountaineer welcome. It's great to be in West Virginia, and I'm delighted, I'm delighted to visit your proud town of Parkersburg. Two great American sports are taking place this fall, politics and football. So before I go any further, let me say hello to some great teams, the Williamstown High School Yellow Jackets, the Parkersburg South Patriots, yes, the Parkersburg Big Reds, yes, one more thing, how about them ears? Warm welcome to your Mayor Pat Pappas, greetings to my good friend and your once and your future very great Governor Archmour. I'd like nothing more than to work with Arch so we can see to it that West Virginia shares in the prosperity that is sweeping across America. We were governors together and I know that leadership means more, or he knows that leadership means more than just raising taxes, and special regards to your outstanding candidates for the House of Representatives, Jim Altmyron, Cleave Benedict, and you've got a candidate for Senate who is a member of the Republican Opportunity Team could do a lot for West Virginia. I ask you a favor for myself and for the people of West Virginia on election day, vote against high taxes, vote for creative jobs programs, vote for growth and opportunity by sending John Racy to the United States Senate. The Senate is one key to continuing what we've begun. West Virginia has a fine tradition for rising above partisanship when the national interest calls. A tradition that's well represented by your retiring senator, Jennings Randolph. John Racy has the qualities of leadership necessary to continue that tradition and to do what's best and what's right for America. I need, and I think your state needs, if you'll permit me, John Racy in the United States Senate. Jim, Cleave, and John are great candidates and they'll make even better representatives in Washington, so please send them there. You know, I'm always happy when I visit this part of the country because maybe because you make me feel so much at home. You in West Virginia have always given our country more than your share of greatness and courage. Here is the steadiness of purpose, the fidelity to ideals, the love of country, and I want you to know that George Bush and I not only believe West Virginia is worth visiting and worth listening to, we believe West Virginia is worth fighting for. Abe Lincoln said, we must disenthrall ourselves with the past and then we will save our country. Well, four years ago that's what we did. We made a great turn. We got out from under the thrall of a government which we had hoped would make our lives better, but which wound up trying to live our lives for us. The power of the federal government had over the decades created great chaos, economic, social, and international. Our leaders were adrift, rudderless, without a compass. Four years ago we began to navigate by certain fixed principles. Our North Star was freedom. Our common sense was our constellations. We knew that economic freedom meant paying less of a family's earnings to government and so we cut personal income tax rates by 25 percent and contrary to what my opponent is saying, we cut them from top to bottom evenly across the board. We knew that inflation, the quiet thief, was stealing our savings and the highest interest rates since the civil war were making it impossible for people to own a home or to start an enterprise. We knew that our national military defense had been weakened so we decided to rebuild and be strong again and this we knew would enhance the prospects for peace in the world. It was a second American revolution and it's only just begun but America is back. America is a giant once again powerful in its renewed spirit, its growing economy, powerful in its ability to defend itself and secure the peace and powerful in its ability to build a better future. And you know something? That's not debatable. Yet four years after our efforts began small voices in the night are sounding the call to go back, go back to the days of drift, the days of torpor, timidity, and taxes. My opponent this year is known to you but perhaps we can gain a greater insight into the world he would take us back to if we take a look at his record. His understanding of economics is well demonstrated by his predictions just before we took office. He said our economic program is quote obviously murderously inflationary. Now that was just before we lowered inflation from above 12 percent down to around four and just after just after our tax cuts he said the most that he could see was an anemic recovery. Well that was right before the United States economy created more than six million new jobs in 21 months and and there have been 900,000 new business incorporations in just the last 18 months. My opponent said that our policies would deliver a misery index the likes of which we haven't seen in a long time. Now there was some truth when he said that. You know you get the misery index by adding the rate of unemployment and the rate of inflation. They invented that in the 1976 election and they invented it so that they could say Jerry Ford had no right to run for reelection because he had a misery index of 12.6. Well now they didn't mention the misery index in the election of 1980 probably because it was over 20 and they're not talking about it much in this campaign because it's down around 11. You know my opponent said that decontrol of oil prices would cost American consumers more than 36 billion dollars a year. Well one of the first things we did was decontrol oil prices and the price of gasoline went down eight cents a gallon. I figured out that maybe all we have to do to get the economy in absolutely perfect shape is to get my opponent to predict absolute disaster. He says he cares about the middle class but he boasts quote I have consistently supported legislation time after time which increases taxes on my own constituents. Doesn't that make you want to be one of his constituents? He's no doubt proud of the fact that as a United States senator he voted 16 times to increase your taxes. Now this year he's out done himself. He's already promised of course to raise your taxes but if he is to keep all the promises that he has made during this campaign he will have to raise taxes by the equivalent of $1,890 for every household in the United States. Now that's more than $150 a month. It's like having a second mortgage, a Mondale mortgage. His basic plan has two parts. One raise your taxes and the second raise them again. You know I've got news for him. The American people don't want his tax increases and they're not going to get his tax increases. His tax plan would bring this recovery of ours to a roaring halt because one of the key most significant things in the recovery we're having was the tax cut. I'm now beginning to see more clearly why last week my opponent said let's forget about the past. It's not the past that worries me. It's the future and I'm even more concerned because now last week my opponent used another familiar phrase from the past. Trust me he said. Well the last time we trusted the administration of which he was apart they took five. You can count them. Five different economic plans and nearly tripled inflation and by contrast we trusted the people. You and with just one economic program we've cut inflation by two-thirds. If my opponent's campaign were a television show it would be let's make a deal. You know you would trade your prosperity for his surprise behind the curtain and if his campaign were a Broadway show it would be called promises promises and if his administration were a novel a book you'd have to read it from back to front to get a happy ending. He sees in America in which every day is tax day April 15th we see in America in which every day is independence day the 4th of July but seriously we want to lower your taxes and everybody's taxes so your families will be stronger our economy will be stronger and America will be stronger and I'm proud to say on another subject during these last four years not one square inch of territory in the world has been lost to communist aggression and the United States is more secure than it was four years ago. My opponent sees a different world. Sometime back he said the old days of a soviet strategy of suppression by force are over that was just before the soviets invaded Czechoslovakia and after they invaded Afghanistan he said it just baffles me why the soviets these last few years have behaved as they have but then there's so much that baffles him. Just one year ago we liberated Grenada from communist thugs who had taken over that country but my opponent called what we did a violation of international law that erodes our moral authority to criticize the soviets. Well there's nothing immoral about rescuing American students whose lives are in danger by the time my opponent decided that action was justified the students were home a long time after the Sandinista revolution in Nicaragua he praised it saying winds of democratic progress are stirring where they have long been stifled but we know that the Sandinistas immediately began to persecute the general genuine believers in democracy and to export terror they went on to slaughter the mosquito indians in their country abuse and deport church leaders slander the pope practice anti-semitism and move to kill free speech don't you think it's about time that my opponent stood up and spoke out and condemned the Sandinistas crimes more recently he failed to repudiate the Reverend Jesse Jackson when Jesse Jackson went to avena stood with Fidel Castro and said long live President Fidel Castro and Che Guevara but let me try to put this in perspective the 1984 election isn't just a partisan contest I was a democrat for a good share of my life the majority share but in those days democratic leaders weren't the members of the blame the america first crowd its leaders were men like Harry Truman men who understood the challenges of the times they didn't reserve all their indignation for the united states they knew the difference between freedom and tyranny and they stood up for the one and damned the other to all the good democrats and I hope there are many presidents who respect that tradition I say you are not alone well I know that across this country there are millions of good patriotic democrats who found in their hearts they can no longer follow the leadership of that party today well we're asking you to come we're asking you to come and walk with us down the path of hope of hope and opportunity believe me together and it can be a bipartisan task that we face to make america strong and keep it strong once again we need you and you're certainly welcome you talk me into it you know this this month an american woman walked in space Catherine Sullivan made history and then she returned after that walk to the space shuttle in which some of the great scientific and medical advances of the future will be made cures of for diabetes and heart disease may be possible up there steps have already been taken to to find that out experiments and technology and communication but my opponent led the fight in the united states senate against the entire shuttle program didn't want it to even begin and called it a horrible waste well we support the space shuttle and we've committed america to meet a great challenge to build a permanently manned space station and to do it within a decade now i've been probably going on too long here but that isn't what you meant by four more years well you know the point is we were right when we made our big turn in 1980 we were right to take command of the ship stop its aimless drift and get moving again and and we were right we were right when we stopped sending out sos and started saying usa you know the united states was never meant to be a second best nation like our like our olympic athletes this nation should set its sights on the stars and go for the gold now if america could bring down inflation from 12.4 percent to four then we can bring inflation down from four to zero point zero and we're going to do it if lowering your tax rates led to the best expansion we've had in 30 years and it was the key as i said then we can lower them again and keep america growing into the 21st century if we could create if if we could create six million new jobs in 21 months and then make it possible for every american young old black or white who wants a job to find a job if our states and municipalities can establish enterprise zones to create economic growth then we can elect people to congress who will free our enterprise zones the federal bill that has been buried in a committee in the house of representatives for two years buried there by speaker tip o'neill and bring it out to the floor for a vote so we can provide hope and opportunity for the most distressed areas of america whether they be in the cities or rural if if we can lead a revolution in technology and push back the frontiers of space then we can provide our workers in industries old and new all that they need which is mainly new and proper tools because i believe with all my heart the american worker given the proper tools can outsell anybody can out compete can out produce anybody anywhere in the world anytime if our grassroots drive to restore excellence in education could reverse a 20 year decline in scholastic aptitude test scores and it has then we can keep raising those scores and restore american academic excellence second to none if our crackdown on crime could produce the sharpest drop ever in the crime index and it has then we can keep cracking down until our families and friends can walk our streets again without being afraid if we could reverse the decline in our military defenses and restore respect for america and we have then we can make sure that this nation remains strong enough to protect freedom and peace for us for our children and for our children's children and if we make sure that america remains strong and prepared for peace then we can begin to reduce nuclear weapons and one day banish them from the earth entirely i've been interested in some of the scare tactics that my opponent has been using i've had the privilege in these four years of addressing the parliaments in several countries both in asia and in the united states and in every instance i took the opportunity to tell them that a nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought and yes a nuclear freeze makes strength if it follows negotiations that reduce the weapons in the world down to a verifiable and equal level on both sides and if we can strengthen our economy strengthen our security and strengthen the values that bind us together then america will become a nation even greater in art and learning and greater in the love and worship of the god who made us and who has blessed us here more than any other people on earth have ever been blessed but now a week ago sunday yesterday a week ago yesterday i didn't get to finish my closing remarks in the debate i ran out of time so i'm going to say it here to you the young people of this country let me say that you you and your future are what this election is all about your generation is something special your idealism and your love of country are unsurpassed i have seen this in meetings of this kind all across the country in this campaign it's our highest duty to make certain that you have an america every bit as full of opportunity hope confidence and dreams as we had when we were your age you know my generation and then there are a few generations between mine and yours but most of us grew up in a land where we took it for granted that we could dream the highest and finest of dreams and if we were willing to try and work we could make them come true that there was no ceiling no limit on what we could accomplish or how high we could fly by our own strength and ability and then we came to a period when some people began telling us that no there was an era of limits that things could never have been again be as good as they once were and that you had to kind of give up some of your dreams for the future well i'll tell you me and those my generation i should say and those other generations i mentioned here not yours we have a sacred trust and i think we're going to fulfill that trust and that is when the time comes to turn the reins over to you young people out there we're going to turn over to you and america that is free in a world that is at peace and your dreams can come true all of us together are part of a great revolution and it's only just begun america will never give up its special mission in the world never they're new worlds on our horizon and we're not going to stop until we all get there together america's best days are yet to come i spoke earlier about sending these wonderful candidates and office holders back to their jobs you know the job that arch belongs in and you know the jobs for these but i have been honored greatly by all of you in your allowing me to serve you for these past four years and i ask for your vote i ask for your support i want to keep on with the job we started four years ago with that new beginning i wanted more than anything i've ever wanted extreme pride that i on behalf of the state of west virginia west virginia university present to you this hat which a bit of memorabilia from west virginia to savor our victory over pin state and we'll savor your victory this election day