Washington (H24N). Democratic presidential candidate Vice President Al Gore spent yesterday touting his plans for saving Medicare, even bringing the topic up on the youthful, MTV music television channel during a town hall meeting with young voters.

Gore started his day off with a town-hall meeting hosted by ABC's "Good Morning America" at Wayne State University, where he promoted his plan to protect Medicare.

"I want to put Medicare in an iron-clad 'lock-box' to prevent politicians from using Medicare as a piggy bank," Gore said. "Virtually every member of Congress in both parties has supported this approach because, simply, it is the right thing to do."

Gore also managed to tie his Republican opponent, Texas Gov. George W. Bush, to the Democrats' arch nemesis from the past, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and his plan to scale back Medicare.

"What he [Bush] said five years ago was in strong support of the Newt Gingrich plan that former Speaker Gingrich said would make Medicare wither on the vine," Gore said on ABC's "Good Morning America."

Gore spokesman Douglas Hattaway echoed his boss's comments and cautioned voters to look at Bush's record.

"People need to look at Bush's record to find out what he would really do as president," Hattaway said. "Today, he says he supports Medicare, but when seniors needed him he supported Newt Gingrich's plan to cut Medicare in favor of a massive tax cut for the rich."

Hattaway was referring to an interview the Texas governor gave in 1995, when Bush said, "Elderly people will not suffer as a result of this plan," referring to a question on Gingrich's proposed tax cuts.

Bush's campaign today shot back in defense of its candidate, noting that the Clinton-Gore administration signed into law Gingrich's Medicare program.

"Al Gore is grasping at straws by attacking Governor Bush for what his administration signed into law in 1997," said Bush spokesman Dan Bartlett. "Just like in 1996, Al Gore is attempting to scare seniors to vote for him."

Bartlett did say his candidate supported Gingrich's plan to scale back Medicare, but only as a way to ensure the program's solvency and balance the budget at the same time.

Gore appeared later in the afternoon at the University of Michigan in a town-hall meeting hosted by MTV "Choose or Lose" program. He answered questions relating to fixing dilapidated schools, racial profiling, the environment and voter apathy among the nation's young.

Gore is in the middle of a three-day tour promoting his plans to modernize and ultimately save Medicare. His proposals are chronicled in a 74-page booklet entitled "Medicare at a Crossroads."

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