Before a crowd of 3,000 in Berkeley, CA, Vice President Al Gore gave an impassioned speech telling California voters to startle the country and the world by passing Proposition 87, which would reduce our dependence on oil. Actress Maria Bello introduced Gore. Event is available via satellite at the coordinates above.

Nobody else is going to take the lead," said Gore. "California has to take the lead to help solve this crisis."

During a twenty-minute barn burning speech, Gore told the crowd that people in other countries, such as Brazil, are puzzled as to why our country has not stepped forward in developing, cleaner, cheaper energies, like wind and solar, instead of importing oil from dangerous countries in the Middle East.

Chevron today put another $5 million into the oil companies' anti-87 war chest, bringing its total to $80 million.

Gore is campaigning for Yes on 87, and has made a commercial telling Californians that we are dangerously dependent on foreign oil.

Vice President Al Gore leads a growing coalition backing Proposition 87 that includes President Bill Clinton, Senator Dianne Feinstein, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, Former President Chief of Staff John Podesta, U.N. Ambassador Richard Holbrooke, State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell, the American Lung Association of California, the Coalition for Clean Air, Americans for Energy Independence, the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights, businesses, Nobel Prize laureates and other leading environmental, local government and public health organizations.

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