WASHINGTON - Filmmaker Michael Moore's wish list for the 2008 presidential campaign includes a candidacy by former Vice President Al Gore and truly universal health care plans from the current crop of Democratic candidates.
The liberal documentary maker, in Washington for the screening of his latest film "Sicko," is not endorsing anyone yet. He is hoping Gore, the 2000 Democratic nominee, can be drawn into the race.
"He's right on the health care issue," he said Wednesday night. "He's right on the environment and he was right on the war."
At least one Democratic presidential candidate, Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio, attended the showing along with several other members of Congress at the Uptown Theatre in Washington.
Moore said Democratic health care plans either lack specifics or fall short of his ideal. "What I've seen I don't like," he said. "So I'm waiting, like many Americans." The United States is one of the few western countries without universal health care.
Moore said the plan offered by candidate John Edwards - which is both detailed and far-reaching - "is not good because it supports putting our tax dollars into private, profit-making companies.
Barack Obama "hasn't given us a specific enough plan," he said, adding: Hillary Clinton "has to come forward with a plan."
His advice to Clinton: "She needs to apologize for her votes for the war and she needs to say that she will not take money from the health industry and in fact support universal health care for everyone that does not involve the private profit making companies."
"Sicko" highlights the struggles of ordinary Americans - some with insurance coverage, others without - as they navigate the health care system. Moore compares the system with those of Canada, France and Britain, which have government-run programs.
"This has been a difficult film to make because we're dealing with a lot of people who are sick and a lot of people who have died, and I don't want this system to kill any more of my fellow Americans," he said.
The filmmaker's previous films, which include "Roger & Me," "Bowling for Columbine" and "Fahrenheit 9/11," have targeted General Motors executives, gun rights supporters and President George W. Bush and the Iraq war.
"Sicko" opens nationwide in the United States June 29.
