LAS VEGAS (AP) — Al Gore promised stronger health protections for women Monday and then traded words of support with the Teamsters in an event that moved him to break into song. ''I was born a union man,'' he warbled.
Opening a week of focusing on health care, Gore met health experts - and tennis star Andre Agassi - to promote his proposals to help women fight breast cancer and other diseases.
''What's going on now is not acceptable,'' Gore said, criticizing what he called the ''phony bill of rights'' touted by Republicans. Agassi was along because of breast cancer in his family. Gore lost a sister to lung cancer.
Gore then went before 1,200 chanting and cheering delegates at a convention of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters to formally collect an endorsement announced last month, drawing cheers as he pledged to push a labor agenda.
''I am not satisfied with the minimum wage where it is or with all the union-busting that's going on,'' said Gore. ''I will take the hardworking men and women of the Teamsters any day of the week.''
The endorsement had not come easily because Gore was at odds with the Teamsters and other unions with his support for bringing China into the World Trade Organization and other trade matters.