Remarks at the Republican Convention Gala in San Diego

I appreciate — hey, Joe, how are you doing? I saw you on TV, but they had a sign in front of you.

(UNKNOWN): What'd it say?

DOLE: Massachusetts.

[laughter]

Well, I'm very honored to be here. And we've had another great night at the Republican Convention. And let me go on record here, I'm very pleased with the nominees that were chosen tonight.

[applause]

If I'd known winning the nomination was this much fun, I'd have done it years ago. And I've been to a lot of conventions with a lot of energy and a lot of enthusiasm. But I've never been to a better one than we're having right here in San Diego, and I want to thank everybody in San Diego.

[applause]

I want to thank Governor Wilson, the mayor of San Diego, Susan Golding, and everybody else for the courtesies extended to all of us, the delegates, the visitors, the media, everyone who's been here.

We're going to have trouble getting delegates to go back home. That's going to be the big problem. So we're very proud to be here, too.

In a few moments my running mates Jack and Joanne will be here. And I think Jack and Joanne and Bob and Elizabeth will be great a foursome. We're going to win this campaign. We're going to win on November 5, 1996. And we're very proud to be here.

[applause]

I've got to go and work on my speech. After Elizabeth and Robin tonight, I better go home and practice.

[applause]

In fact, I've got to catch an early plane tomorrow, and I've asked Elizabeth to fill in tomorrow night.

[laughter]

I want to thank everyone because, as I've said, I've been to a lot of conventions, always had a lot of fun. I'm even starting to get excited. And I don't get excited too easily.

But I've never known the party to be more unified. Has anyone here ever known the party to be more unified? I don't think so.

[applause]

And we are the reform party of America. I want to make that very clear. We are the reform party. We are the party of change. We are making changes.

And the leadership of Senator Lott and Speaker Gingrich and Bob Dole starting in January 1997, the changes have just begun. And we're going to make more.

We're going to have an economic package to unleash economic growth. To help families with children, regulatory reform, civil justice reform, all these things we've talked about, cutting the capital gains rate by 50 percent to create more jobs and more opportunities for people in America.

[applause]

The regulatory system costs the average family about $6,000 per year.

DOLE: And we can change it.

And we can downsize the federal bureaucracies, and that includes the IRS, and we believe we can get it done.

[applause]

And I would just conclude by saying that it will be a great honor to accept the nomination tomorrow evening. I've seen a number of Republican nominees accept the nomination, and I know what a great responsibility it is.

As I've said to many of you — Ken Langone and others — this is not my nomination. It's our nomination. It's America's nomination. It's not Republican or Democrat or independent. We are the party of change. We do care about people. We are reaching out to more and more people. And we're going to be the majority party for the right reason — because we have the agenda, because we have the ideas, because we care about people, and because we want to make America better.

That's what this election is all about, and that's what will happen in the next 82 days.

[applause]

And obviously, no man does it alone. And no man will ever feel more gratitude than I do right now — for your friendship and for your support, day after day, week after week, month after month, and for the honor of carrying the standard for the Republican Party in a great campaign about the future of America.

We're going to go for the gold. Jack and I are going to go for the gold, and that's leads me into a very important and very exciting announcement.

Tonight, I brought with me some very special friends. They, too, know about going for the gold or the silver or the bronze, so please join me in welcoming our Olympic athletes who are here with us tonight.

[applause]