Democratic presidential candidate Al Gore was greeted with cheers, signs and banners in Des Moines Wednesday as he made his final public appearance before next week’s national debates. Hundreds of people stood in line for hours, chanting, “One, two, three, four, we want Al Gore,” as they waited for admission to Nollen Plaza where Gore addressed several issues important to the Democratic Party and its supporters. Gore said he would work to improve the accessibility and quality of education by reducing class sizes and using federal money to help middle-class students afford higher education. “I’ll give federal aid to families to help pay for college and then make tuition tax-deductible,” he said. Gore focused his speech on raising the standard of living for middle-class families. He said he would like to see the median income for families increase by $40,000 through tax cuts, and he would like to increase the minimum wage by $1. “We need to stop squandering the surplus of tax cuts on the wealthy and give the tax cuts to those who need it – the middle class,” he said. Gore plans to expand health care to make it more accessible to senior citizens by giving them aid. He said the Republican plan does not cover 95 percent of the elderly. The vice president said he wants to work toward universal medical-insurance coverage so all children can have full health-care coverage. Gov. Tom Vilsack introduced Ramona Holiday, a nurse at an internal medicine clinic in Des Moines, who expressed her concern for senior citizens who are unable to pay for vital medications. “I am concerned for people, such as an elderly woman I know who must wait tables at a restaurant in a Des Moines mall four hours each day to pay for necessary medications,” Holiday said. She gave her support to Gore and said she is concerned with Republican presidential candidate George W. Bush’s health-care plan. Gore told the crowd the economy has flourished under Democratic leadership, but he still has plans to improve the United States’ situation. “The other party wants to go back to what it was like eight years ago, even though 22 million new jobs have been created since,” he said. “The economy is now the strongest it has been in our 224-year history, but I’m not satisfied.”