Gore, in Connecticut, Calls for Defense Workers’ Backing

Campaigning as a strong advocate of national defense, Tennessee Sen. Al Gore on Monday urged the recession-battered defense industry in Connecticut to support the Democratic ticket’s “sensible, well-thought-out conversion program” to retrain laid-off defense workers for peacetime jobs.

“The other side will always say, ‘Oh, the Democrats are weak on defense.’ But they don’t know what they are talking about,” the Democratic vice presidential nominee said as he began a three-day swing through New England.

Despite the end of the Cold War, Gore charged, the Bush Administration “has not come forward with any kind of proposal or plan to take advantage of the experience, the talent and the fantastic capabilities of the men and women in the defense industry.”

Gore delivered his message during a lunchtime visit to Textron Lycoming, which makes turbine engines for numerous military airplanes and land vehicles, including the Army’s M1A1 tank that was hailed for its performance in the Persian Gulf War.

Two years ago, Textron had 5,000 employees; today, it has 3,300. “Everybody’s worried,” said William B. McDaniel, a spokesman for Textron, the town’s second-largest employer. In the 1970s, as much as 95% of Textron’s business was defense-related; it’s down to 60% and shrinking.

An estimated 1,000 workers turned out to hear Gore, but many of them seemed unenthusiastic--even cool--to his message.

Perhaps sensing the mixed reception, Gore reminded the workers that he and Bill Clinton, the Democratic presidential nominee, had supported the Gulf War, adding that they also support the use of force “if necessary” to enforce Iraq’s compliance with the many United Nations resolutions that Baghdad had agreed to in 1991 as a condition of the cease-fire.

But Gore’s central message was that the Democratic ticket has a clear vision of how to ease the pain of a shrinking defense industry.

“We need leadership in Washington that understands what this task is all about,” said Gore, who is a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee. “The choice in this election is very clear. We can have the same thing--four more years of the same rut that we have been in--or we can have a constructive, responsible change.”