NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Former President Bill Clinton and former Vice President Al Gore are remembering Ned McWherter, who served as Tennessee governor from 1987 to 1995, as a politician with a special way of connecting with people.
They attended a public memorial service Saturday for McWherter, also a longtime House speaker from West Tennessee. He died Monday of cancer at the age of 80.
Tennessee Republican Gov. Bill Haslam, as well as several former state governors and lawmakers, also attended.
Gore, a former Tennessee senator, said McWherter "always kept a connection to working people and the rural poor."
Clinton called him a "fabulous politician" who "made us dream, and think and act."
A second service is set for 1:30 p.m. Sunday in West Tennessee on the front lawn of McWherter's Dresden home.
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