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The President. Thanks for being here. Go ahead and be seated, We've got some work to do here. [Laughter] Thanks for such a warm welcome here in the great State of North Carolina. It's nice to be back here. I'm here asking for the vote, and I'm here to ask for your help.

Gosh, there's a lot of people back there. Can you hear me back there? [Applause] That's good. Thanks for coming.

The first thing I'd like you to do is ask you to register your friends and neighbors to vote. And while you're doing that, don't overlook discerning Democrats like Zell Miller, And then after we get them registered to vote, when it comes voting time, head them to the polls and remind them if they want a safer America, a stronger America, a better America, to put me and Dick Cheney back in office.

Listen, we've got an interesting way to talk about some issues today. One of the things you've got to know is, I've got a reason to run again. I'm asking for the vote because there's more to do to make this country a safer place and a better place for everybody, a more hopeful place for those of us who live here in America. And so I asked some of our fellow citizens here to share some ideas, or to discuss some of the ideas I have about a new term. I think you're going to find it interesting. I hope you do.

Before I begin to talk with them about ways to make this country a More hopeful place, I do want to tell you that I lucked out when Laura said, "Yes." One way to maybe look at this race is, your can judge the nature of a fellow by the company he keeps. I'm keeping great company when it comes to Laura Bush. I'm proud of her. Listen, when I asked her to marry me, she said, "Fine, just so long as I don't have to give any political speeches." [Laughter] I said, "Okay, you won't have to give any speeches." Fortunately, she didn't hold me to my word. The other night the country got to see what I've seen in Laura for all these years: She's compassionate; she's decent; she's strong; she is a great mom, a wonderful wife, and a fantastic First Lady for our country.

I want to thank my friend Elizabeth Dole. She's a great United States Senator for the State of North Carolina. I want to thank my friend Robin Hayes. I appreciate you being here, Congressman. I'm glad you're here. Nice to see you, sir. Congresswoman Sue Myrick, she's here. Thanks for coming; Sue. It's great to see you. Richard Burr, is he here? Where is he? Burr, how are you? I'm in town not only to talk about my race; I'm in town to talk about his race. He needs to be elected to the United States Senate.

I want to thank Pat McCrory, the great mayor of Charlotte. North Carolina. Mr. Mayor, thank you for coming. Cherie Berry is with us today. We got some statehouse folks. We got Patrick Ballantine, the next Governor, with us today.

I want to thank the grassroots activists who are here today. These people put up the signs and do the hard work. I want to thank you for what you have done and what you're going to do, which is, coming down the pike, turn people out to vote. We carried North Carolina last time, and with your help, we're going to carry it this time.

I know Teresa Earnhardt is with us today. I'm proud you're here, Teresa. It's good to see you. Thanks for coming. There you are. Appreciate you being here. I was going to the NASCAR race in New Hampshire on Sunday, but I'm going down to help provide as much comfort as I can to the folks whose lives have been turned upside down by the hurricane that hit the coast so hard. I know it's affecting parts of North Carolina. We send our prayers to the people whose lives are being affected in your great State, and we stand ready to help when this storm passes through.

I appreciate you all coming. Let me tell you something about what I believe. I believe Government should stand side by side with people, not try to tell people how to run their life. I believe the proper role of Government is to help people help themselves, not dictate to people. There's a fundamental difference in this campaign in philosophy of Government. And in the course of the next days coming down the stretch, people are going to see a clear difference.

Today I also want you to understand I understand the world of ours is changing, and the fundamental systems of Government must change with the changing world. The Government of the--the society of ours has changed dramatically. For example, in the old days women used to stay at home. Now they're staying at home and working; they're inside the house and outside the house. That's a fundamental shift in our labor market, And yet, the labor laws haven't changed. So we're going to talk about flex-time and comp-time today, to help women juggle the needs of work and family. We want the labor laws to be family-friendly here in America. We want them to adjust with the times.

In the old days, you know, the dad or granddad worked for one company and one career, and today, people are now changing jobs and careers oftentimes, And yet, the worker training programs haven't adjusted with the times. If you've got a workforce where people are changing jobs often, you've got to have a worker training program that helps train people for the jobs which actually exist. And so we're going to talk about how to make sure the worker training programs here in America work.

See, what I'm telling you is many of the systems of Government were designed for yesterday. I'm running for President to make sure they're designed for tomorrow--our tax system is designed for tomorrow, our health care systems are designed for tomorrow, our pension plans are designed for tomorrow. I want to make sure Government helps people be able to realize their dreams here in the greatest country on the face of the Earth.

[At this point, a portion of the President's marks were missing from the transcript made available by the Office of the Press Secretary.]

I already worked through one mike. [Laughter]

In order to make sure there's a hopeful society, we've got to make sure this economy continues to grow. Now, when you're out gathering the vote, remind your friends and neighbors what this economy has been through. We've been through a recession. We've been through corporate scandals. That meant some people forgot what it meant to be a responsible citizen. We passed laws that now make it clear we're not going to tolerate dishonesty in the boardrooms of our country. And we went through that attack on our country on September the 11th, 2001, that cost jobs. It affected our economy.

We're overcoming these obstacles. These are obstacles in the way for economic growth and vitality. We're overcoming them because we've got great workers, great farmers and ranchers, great small-business owners, and because of tax relief.

The economy has added 1.7 million jobs since August of last year. The national unemployment rate is 5.4 percent, which is lower the average of the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s. The unemployment rate here in North Carolina is 5 percent. The tax relief we--the economic stimulus plan we passed is working. And so the fundamental question is, how are you going to make sure this recovery is sustained economic growth? I'm going to talk a little bit about that, if you don t mind.

First, we need an energy plan to make sure jobs stay right here in America. In order to make sure people can find work, this country. must have an energy plan. I submitted one to Congress that said: We're going to encourage conservation; we'll use renewables like ethanol and biodiesel; we'll use clean coal technologies; we'll use technologies to explore in environmentally friendly ways for natural gas. But it's a plan that understands this: In order to make sure people can find work here in America today and tomorrow, we need to he less dependent on foreign sources of energy.

In order to make sure we have jobs here in America, we need to do something about these junk lawsuits that are threatening small-business owners. In order to do something about making sure we got jobs here in America we got to be wise about our regulatory policy. Many small-business owners fill out regulations. I can't guarantee you whether anybody in the Federal Government has ever read them. [Laughter] But I do know paperwork is costly.