THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary

                        REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT
                  AT THE DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL COMMITTEE
              SAXOPHONE CLUB PRESIDENTIAL VICTORY CONCERT
                                    
                           Constitution Hall
                            Washington, D.C.

9:27 P.M. EST

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you. Let me say to all of you, you have honored me and our party by being here tonight. I can't thank you enough. I want to say a special word of thanks to the Saxophone Club, to the D.C. Chapter and to Bennett Kelly, to all of you who had anything to do with putting this together. (Applause.)

I thank Bruce Hornsby and his wonderful band for keeping us pumped up and playing so brilliantly. (Applause.) I thank Stevie Wonder for so brilliantly taking us back across the years and bringing us back today again. (Applause.) He was magnificent, let's give him a hand. (Applause.)

And thank you, Kevin Spacey, for being here and for showing your versatility, your patience, your talent. You know, from the Usual Suspects to Seven to A Time To Kill to Johnny Carson, to killing time creatively -- (applause) -- this man has a brilliant past and a more brilliant future. I am so honored that he was here tonight. We ought to give him a Purple Heart for how much time he had to stand up. (Applause.)

You know, I felt so sorry for Kevin up here. It reminded me of some of the licks that I have taken in this campaign. And one day when I was kind of feeling sorry for myself, somebody reminded me of something Mark Twain said and I wish I could have whispered to Kevin. The fella said, you know, you ought to consider yourself like the dog Mark Twain talked about. He said, every dog needs a few fleas, it keeps him from worrying so much about being a dog. (Laughter.) And so no matter whatever happens to Kevin in his performing life, he'll always remember it will never be as bad as when he had to stand in Constitution Hall and make up jokes for 20 minutes during acts. You were great. Thank you and God bless you. (Applause.)

You know, this election is in seven days. It has always been about the future. The work that Al Gore and I have done for four years has been about building an America for the 21st century. Whatever else people say or talk about in the end, it's about the future of the young people in this grand old Constitution Hall tonight and all your counterparts all across our great country.

And so I ask you to give seven more days of effort and your voice, your passion, your commitment to making sure that we roar into that next century together; that we build a bridge we can all walk across; that we say no to division, no to going back, no to the short-sighted, negative forces that would tend to divide us and cloud our clear vision of the tomorrow we can make together.

Our best days are still ahead. Thank you and God bless you all. Thank you. (Applause.)

END 9:31 P.M. EST