2008 Democratic National Convention Speeches

Reverend Cynthia Hale

Tue, 26 Aug 2008 12:41:18 -0400

Great and awesome God, as we gather in this place from all across the length and breadth of this nation, we pause to acknowledge you as the one in whom we live and move and have our being. You, oh God, created us in your image and likeness and invited us to partner with you in the stewardship of your world. We are called to be faithful over the earth, its people and resources.

On this day as we gather to renew America's promise, we are keenly aware of the challenges American families are facing. God, people are being hit hard by the economic downturn, the energy crisis and rising food costs, the mortgage mayhem, as well as the absence of affordable housing and healthcare. Parents desire and deserve to be able to give their children quality and affordable education from pre-school through college.

Times are tough; people are struggling; some have lost hope. We know, God, that this is not your perfect will for any of your people. It is your desire that all people have these basic human needs met. It is your desire that all would prosper and be in good health. It is your desire that everyone would be treated with dignity and respect.

As a nation and as a party, we are at a crucial time. We have an opportunity to not only make history, but to bring about change we can all believe in and restore hope to the hearts of women and men. Unite us as a party, oh God. Let us be one in this common purpose, to renew our promise so that we might live out our creed to be one nation under god, with liberty and justice for all.

In your strong and mighty name, we pray. Amen.

Representative Eleanor Homes Norton

Tue, 26 Aug 2008 12:42:35 -0400

With the wind at our backs, we come to Denver as change-making, Obama-Biden Democrats. At the same time, we embrace our nation’s great unchanging principles, as we seek to change the policies that have betrayed those principles.

The nation’s founders staked everything on creating a country where there would be “no taxation without representation” anywhere in America. In that tradition, Democrats proudly support the vote in Congress for the 600,000 citizens of our nation’s capital. The District of Columbia is not yet the 51st state, but no one can doubt that the revolutionaries who invented America’s most quoted national slogan did not create a new nation to get the vote, only to turn around and deny the vote to the citizens of their own capital.

Forty-five years ago this week, Martin Luther King Jr. inspired us to act on the principle that all Americans must have equal rights. Democrats will finish King’s unfinished business for equal voting rights for the citizens of our capital. King’s vision that change is best achieved when wrapped in unchanging principles is the hallmark of Democrats—from Martin Luther King Jr. to the next President of the United States, Barack Obama.

The first residents of the District volunteered at the battles of Lexington and Concord on the promise of the vote. Democrats will keep that promise as, yet again, D.C. residents risk their lives in battles in Iraq and Afghanistan. We will keep the promise made to the unknown soldier who was the first to die from the District in the war against taxation without representation, and we will keep that promise for 21-year-old D.C. National Guard Specialist Darryl Dent, the first D.C. resident to die for his country in Iraq.

The new Democratic Congress already has swiftly led the change to resolve the nation’s oldest unresolved human rights issue. We thank the Democratic House of Representatives for passing the D.C. Voting Rights Act. The Senate came within three votes.

Tonight, we challenge the Senate, especially the Republicans, to match the House this session and pass that bill. Then, have no doubt, if George Bush won’t sign the D.C. Voting Rights Act, its most prominent co-sponsor, our next president, Barack Obama, will.

Ted Sorensen

Tue, 26 Aug 2008 12:44:16 -0400

In my more than 50 years of national conventions, this is one of the most important. Our 8 year national nightmare of mendacity, mediocrity and economic misery—with millions of Americans losing their jobs, their savings, their homes and their hopes—will soon end with the election of Barack Obama.

I have long dreamed that our party would produce another president matching John F. Kennedy's intellect and integrity, his capacity to inspire justice at home and peace around the world—and this week my dream is coming true. Once in a lifetime, said the poet, hope and history meet in one extraordinary man and movement—I thank the good Lord that I've lived long enough to meet and help such men twice in my lifetime, John Kennedy and Barack Obama.

Kennedy at 43 proved that age matters in the White House. His energy, appeal to other young world leaders, calm under pressure and openness to new thinking, well served our nation. Denounced as a candidate for lacking executive experience, he displayed sound judgment in leading a successful nationwide campaign, choosing a top-notch team, negotiating with difficult leaders, and out-organizing and out-thinking his adversaries—just as he would as president, particularly when, with prudence and courage, he induced the Soviets to withdraw their nuclear missiles from Cuba without the U.S. firing a shot; and the world gave thanks that the more experienced Richard Nixon had lost that close election.

In 1960, Kennedy, like Obama today, facing a Republican tied to a failed past, looked to a future of new ideas and opportunities. As president, he did not send the Marine Corps to preserve America's oil supplies, he sent the Peace Corps to preserve America's global standing. Confronting a Soviet military advantage in space, he made all Americans proud by literally reaching for the moon.

Today, we need new leadership. We have lost our way, lost the respect of our allies, lost the confidence of our investors and consumers. Are we to be the first generation of Americans to leave to our children a country in worse condition than we received it?

In short: this year, my friends, the fates will try us; erase all trace of fear and bias; we have the man we need at last to embrace the future, not the past, and to dispel eight years of pain and shame. Barack Obama is his name! Call the roll!

Representative Mike Honda

Tue, 26 Aug 2008 12:52:29 -0400

My name is Mike Honda. I am a proud Sansei Democrat and a Silicon Valley Congressman. But above all, I’m a teacher.

One of my proudest moments was when I received keys to my first classroom. It was high quality public education that allowed this son of strawberry sharecroppers, raised in the Japanese American internment camps of World War II, to grow up to become a Peace Corps volunteer, a Vice Chair of the DNC, and Chair of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus.

Education is the gateway to the American dream. Barack knows first-hand that immigrant families – Asian, Hispanic, Pacific Islander, African and others – can attain the American dream through a quality, equitable education, and hard work. Barack's story of promise and opportunity proves that education can be the great equalizer. Sadly, over the past eight years, the misguided Bush/McCain priorities have bled our schools' resources dry, shutting down that gateway to success, and hijacking our children's capacity to achieve the American dream.

We are now at a crossroads. We can either continue on a path of failed policies with John McCain, or, for the change we need, we can elect Barack Obama president. America is in dire need of leadership. Barack knows that education leads to innovation, a critical engine of our economy. His ability and his vision will help ensure that everyone has the opportunity to obtain a quality education. Barack will fight for our children's future.

Rather than burning through billions of dollars on failed foreign policies and an open-ended war, Barack knows that the real war to be fought is for the education of our children, the future of America’s economic health. He is committed to developing the teachers of tomorrow from among the brightest in our classrooms today and preparing, retaining and rewarding every teacher in America for their service.

In 1965, President Kennedy’s call to service led me to build schools in El Salvador. Now, though my hair is gray, I am inspired again. With Barack Obama and Joe Biden as our ticket – yes, there is hope for the change we need!

Thank you, Senator Obama, for unlocking the imagination and idealism of all generations of Americans, including our Asian and Pacific Islander communities. Thank you for inspiring us to be a critical part of your journey to victory this November. And thank you for your commitment to education, for knowing the strength of America’s tomorrow lies in the classrooms of today.

Dr. David Gipp

Tue, 26 Aug 2008 12:54:28 -0400

Hau, anpetu waste yelo.

My name is Dave Gipp. I’m Hunkpapa /Lakota from the Standing Rock Lakota-Dakota Nation. I am president of United Tribes Technical College in Bismarck, North Dakota.

I’m one of thousands of tribal citizens who support Senator Barack Obama for accepting tribal nations and their citizens into the future he sees for America. We’re not another special interest group trying to claim a share of the American pie. We are, after all, the first Americans. We paid for our place with land and blood. Our status as sovereign tribal nations is specially recognized in the U.S. Constitution. Our rights as tribal nations to determine our destiny within our great United States should be protected and honored by our government. Our treaties with the U.S. are the “supreme law of the land.”

Every step you take across this great nation, every vista you admire, every city you call by its tribal name, was once Indian country. The places many of our tribal nations occupy have long been pockets of poverty where the words, “liberty and justice for all” have become empty words on a piece of paper. Our health care is a disaster. Our public schools need repair. Our law enforcement officers lack the resources to guarantee safety. People in the Green Zone in Baghdad may indeed be safer than citizens in Indian country.

Yet we have never turned our back on America. Our tribal veterans have served in every one of this nation’s wars and conflicts in greater numbers per capita than any other ethnic group. We recently honored the late Woodrow Keeble of the Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate, a hero of the Korean War who received the Medal of Honor. We never forget the sacrifices of our veterans and elders.

We can only renew America’s promise when the first Americans are legitimate participants in framing the future of this country. I urge you to look to the nation’s 37 tribal colleges and universities to lead the way in renewing the promise for American Indians. These institutions provide tribal citizens with the skills they need to be vital contributors to society and to our culture. Tribal colleges are a key to the renaissance in American Indian life as we save our languages and rebuild over 550 tribal nations.

American Indians are still here and we’re seeking justice for our people. We offer the strengths of our spirituality and our connection with Mother Earth in renewing America’s promise for all. Let us remember the words of the great Lakota patriot Sitting Bull: “let us put our minds together and see what life we can make for our children.”

Pilamaya yelo! Thank you.

Mitakuye oyasin! We are all related. In every race, creed, and color... We are all related.

Representative Linda Sanchez

Tue, 26 Aug 2008 13:00:45 -0400

Good afternoon. I’m Congresswoman Linda Sanchez and I’d like to share a story with you. One day in the Capitol while going to vote, I threw my arm into the closing doors of an elevator to catch it. There were two older men standing inside, and one of them asked me, “So, whose office do you work in?” Dressed professionally and wearing my pin that identified me as a member of Congress, I was dismayed that these two assumed I was someone else’s staff. I politely smiled and responded, “Oh, I have my own office in this building.” Then the elevator doors opened, and they scurried out.

As a young Latina, most people may not think of me as a person they would go to in search of answers. But I’ll tell you someone who did: Barack Obama. He recognized that my background as a union member and organizer gave me a grasp of the difficulty families face trying to make ends meet. That’s why he picks up the phone to ask me about policies that impact working families.

With the soaring cost of energy, families today are paying more for basics like food and fuel and just about everything else. Rising health care costs mean that for many people, coverage is out of reach. With joblessness on the rise, hard-working families are being squeezed from all sides. They worry about their economic security and whether tomorrow will bring more hardship than happiness.

But Barack Obama knows what we need to get the American economy back on track. He’s restoring America’s promise that if you work hard and play by the rules, you won’t be left behind. Barack Obama understands what single-parent families confront every day, because he grew up in a single-parent home.

Barack Obama understands that we must preserve programs like low-interest student loans, because that’s how he was able to afford to go to college.

Barack Obama understands that as Americans, we can achieve economic success, but also lend a hand to help those who are struggling. He did just that when he became an advocate and organizer for communities that had been devastated by plant closures.

There are people listening to me right now who think that the outcome of this election won’t affect them. It will. It will determine whether you have a champion on your side, who will help you into the elevator, or whether you get more of the same failed leadership that has given hard-working families the shaft.

Governor Chet Culver

Tue, 26 Aug 2008 13:05:43 -0400

The long journey to this historic convention began on a cold winter’s night in the great State of Iowa! So, I’m honored to join you, more than seven months and seven hundred miles from the site of that first contest, as we unite to make Barack Obama the next President of the United States.

This summer in Iowa, we saw the motivating power of hope and determination when our state was hit with one of the worst “natural disasters” in U.S. history. Despite three tornados and 500- year-flood levels, countless Americans rallied to help us. So, on behalf of every Iowan, I want to say thank you for assisting us in our time of need. We will get through this difficult challenge! We know the Iowa values of faith, hard work and common sense will guide us and strengthen us, as we rebuild an even better, safer and stronger state.

Today I stand proudly with Barack Obama and Joe Biden, no strangers to Iowa, who share our “heartland” values. When they are in the White House, our country will once again rise to meet the great challenges of our time.

And, at the top of that list of challenges is securing our energy future. For the last eight years, the big oil companies and their Washington lobbyists have literally written our national energy policies. They have made billions, while the rest of us are stuck paying the bill.

Now the oil companies are placing their bets on John McCain, bankrolling his campaign, and gambling with our future. McCain has voted against tax credits for renewable energy 11 times, and his only idea to solve our energy crisis is to keep doing what we’re doing, as we watch prices go up and up and up.

Barack Obama understands our need for change. Only Barack Obama has a detailed plan to give us the change we need: lower energy prices and more “green-collar jobs.” If anyone still doubts whether renewable energy can lower prices and create jobs, look no further than Iowa. We have invested hundreds of millions of dollars in renewable energy, created more than 100,000 good-paying jobs and provided clean alternatives to overpriced, foreign oil.

Iowa is becoming the “renewable energy capital” of the United States, and other states, like Colorado, are doing the same. All around the country, entrepreneurs and innovators are joining state and local governments on exciting, cutting-edge projects. Just think how much we’ll do when we have a president who shares our vision.

Barack Obama’s clean energy plan will create 5 million new jobs. He will crack down on the special interests who intentionally “bid up” energy prices for their own profit. And he will set a national goal of producing 25 percent of our electricity from renewable sources by 2025.

In just more than two months, Americans will decide the most important election in a generation. Our choice is to stick with the status quo or to move our country forward. On energy, the stakes couldn’t be higher.

So, my fellow Democrats, let’s lock arms and work together. Let’s ensure that the journey that began in Iowa will continue on from Denver to Washington, D.C. Let’s put Barack Obama and Joe Biden in the White House and put our country on a path towards energy independence!

Governor David Paterson

Tue, 26 Aug 2008 13:07:13 -0400

Let me express my profound gratitude for the magnificent privilege of addressing this convention. I was born in Brooklyn, and I grew up in Harlem and on Long Island. I graduated from Hempstead High School, Columbia University, and Hofstra Law School. In 1985, I was elected to the New York State Senate. In 2006, I was elected Lieutenant Governor. And today, I am deeply honored to address this majestic assembly as Governor of New York State.

My story may be unique in its particular facts and events. But, in a fundamental way, it is not. For it is part of the promise of a glorious nation where anyone who works hard enough can make the most of their God-given potential. This is the promise of America.

What has become of this promise under President Bush? Since last summer, more than 1 million Americans have lost their homes. Wages are declining, while inflation is at a 17-year high. And, this year alone, 463,000 Americans have lost their jobs.

The promise of America has also diminished for people with disabilities. Only 37 percent of Americans with disabilities are employed. Only 30 percent of blind people are employed. And, over the past 8 years, the employment gap between people with disabilities and the general population has increased.

There is only one question in this race: which candidate offers the change we need to restore the promise of America? Is it John McCain? He claims that, under President Bush, we made “great progress economically.” In 2007, he voted with the Bush Administration 95 percent of the time.

Only one candidate in this race offers the change we need to restore the promise of America: a person of integrity, honesty, and love for his country, Barack Obama. Barack Obama has the right strategy—from middle class tax cuts, to fair trade policies, to investment in infrastructure-to get our economy moving again.

And just as he fought for people with disabilities as a civil rights lawyer, Barack Obama will fight for us as president. For example, he has pledged to work with Congress to overturn Supreme Court decisions that wrongly narrowed the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Here is the choice America faces in 2008. John McCain offers us four more years of the broken politics, broken policies, and broken promises of the past.

I have a better idea. Let’s give them four more months—and then elect Barack Obama, who will restore prosperity; deliver the change we need; and write a new chapter in the promise of America.

Cecile Richards

Tue, 26 Aug 2008 13:13:31 -0400

My mother, Ann Richards, gave the keynote address at the Democratic convention 20 years ago. I wish she were here with us to celebrate—everything she worked for and believed in is coming true this week in Denver.

I am the president of the Planned Parenthood Action Fund. After eight years of George Bush, you might be surprised that a Texan is president of Planned Parenthood. After all, there aren’t many people eager to see the words “Texan’ and “president” in the same sentence ever again. I’m proud that for only the second time in our history, the Planned Parenthood Action Fund has endorsed a candidate for president, Barack Obama.

Planned Parenthood health centers are the leading providers of women’s health care in the country. One in four women visit them—and not just for birth control—for cancer screening and breast exams. Many women have no other source of health care. I see firsthand what women and families are facing—choosing between rent and doctor visits—young people needing information to make responsible decisions about their health.

Women deserve a president who understands their health care needs. The record is clear: Barack Obama does and John McCain does not. Barack Obama has worked for affordable family planning, for comprehensive sex education and for a woman’s right to choose. He will be a president who supports women’s health and rights one hundred percent. He’s the change America needs.

And John McCain? He’ll be more of the same. He’s spent 25 years working against the health care needs of women. John McCain has voted against women’s health care 125 times. You can look it up: he voted against real sex education, against affordable family planning and, if elected, John McCain has vowed to appoint Supreme Court justices who will overturn Roe v. Wade.

John McCain believes that judges, politicians and bureaucrats know better than women themselves what’s best for their health. Just two weeks ago, John McCain said he didn’t know if insurance companies should cover birth control. Well, let me remind you senator, you voted against it twice.

Where women’s health is concerned, it seems clear that when John McCain says “I don’t know”, what he really means is “I don’t care.” Women deserve better.

On that summer night in Atlanta 20 years ago my mother introduced her “nearly perfect” granddaughter Lily. Lily is here tonight and there is nothing that would make mom prouder than that this November Lily will cast her first vote for president – for Barack Obama. For mom, for Lily, and for all women, Barack Obama is the right choice.

Barack Obama is the change America needs.

Representative Carolyn Kilpatrick

Tue, 26 Aug 2008 13:14:40 -0400

Greetings from the Congressional Black Caucus: 42 members from 21 states, representing more than 40 million Americans of various racial, social, ethnic, economic, and political persuasions. Our mission is to engage and empower all Americans.

We honor the lives of our sisters, Congresswoman Juanita Millender-McDonald and Congresswoman Julia Carson. Today, we celebrate the life, leadership and legacy of our sister, friend and colleague: Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones, Chairwoman of the House Ethics Committee.

Congresswoman Tubbs Jones was a trailblazer: the first African-American and the first female to serve as Cuyahoga County prosecutor. The first African-American woman to sit on the Ohio Common Pleas Bench. The first African-American woman from Ohio elected to the United States House of Representatives. The first African-American woman appointed to the House Ways and Means Committee.

She was also my friend. I will always cherish her smile and treasure her faithful friendship. We were inspired by her enthusiasm, energy, and passion. The mark she left on Ohio, Congress, America and the countless lives she touched is priceless. Let us continue the work she started.

Stephanie recognized that, in this election, we stand at a crossroads of hope and change. She also recognized that, this November, only one candidate, Barack Obama, can deliver the change we so badly need. So let us continue the journey to an America bursting with equality, opportunity and prosperity for all.

To her son Mervyn Jones II, her sister Barbara, her family, friends and staff and all others who knew her, I pray your sadness is tempered by memories you hold in your heart. May you find comfort and strength in knowing she is with us always. Her brilliant light continues to shine.

Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones will forever be in our hearts.

Representative Charles Rangel

Tue, 26 Aug 2008 13:17:16 -0400

Today we stand here blessed, on the cusp of a great historic election that will determine for generations the course of this great nation. We do it sadly without one of our dearest friends and a true progressive champion.

Stephanie Tubbs Jones never stopped believing in the power of the American dream because she was proof of it. Only in America could a young black woman from Cleveland, the daughter of an airport skycap and a cook, work her way through college and law school to achieve a lifetime of firsts in local government and Congress.

She shattered myths and showed us that an America that provided opportunity for all–that did not succumb to the prejudices based on race, religion, color or class or sex–was not just possible, but necessary for our survival. If she were with us today, she would ask that we come together to dare, like Sen. Barack Obama does, to dream of a more perfect union, one that is a better place for working families.

A dream that has been derailed too often in eight years by stifling deficits, an immoral war in Iraq and a tax system that rewards the rich and few. A dream that Sen. John McCain wants to further tarnish by extending President Bush’s failed economic policies with even more costly and regressive tax cuts that once again leave behind over 100 million households. We cannot let that pass.

We must renew the promise of a land that our Stephanie loved so much. We must change our national priorities, restore fairness and reinvest in the health and education of our country's true strength: its people. We must see to it that Barack Obama and Joe Biden and a strong Democratic Congress are elected this November. We must do it for Stephanie, we must do it for our great country!

Representative John Conyers

Tue, 26 Aug 2008 13:19:42 -0400

I knew Stephanie Tubbs Jones as a constant voice for justice and peace. She was known to others for her work as a prosecutor, a judge and chairwoman of the Ethics Committee of the House of Representatives. She was a stalwart Democrat, a real leader and an enthusiastic supporter of Hillary Rodham Clinton’s bid for the nomination.

After Senator Obama prevailed, the Congressional Black Caucus met with Senator Obama, and Stephanie Tubbs Jones led us in standing rock-solid in support of him as our candidate for president. She knew the importance of making sure that every vote counts and every vote is counted.

After the 2004 election when so many votes went uncounted in Ohio, Stephanie Tubbs Jones met with me and other House members in Columbus, Ohio to hear the testimony of hundreds of Ohioans angry at the way their secretary of state had misconducted the presidential election. She returned to Washington with one vow: “Never again.” Never again would we see justice left undone. Never again will votes go uncounted. Never again will the voice of the people be ignored.

Before leaving this convention, with Senator Obama nominated as our candidate, I ask that we honor the memory of Stephanie Tubbs Jones, and speak with one voice, as she would. “Never again. Never again. Never again.”

Representative Bennie Thompson

Tue, 26 Aug 2008 13:21:19 -0400

I stand before you today saddened because of the passing of my dear friend and colleague, Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones.

As a member of the Congressional Black Caucus, I was overjoyed to be a part of history at the beginning of the 110th Congress with Stephanie. We became two of the five CBC members who would chair full committees in the House of Representatives.

Her life and legacy is full of history making—as the first black woman to become a member of Congress in Ohio and the many “firsts” she accomplished as a successful attorney in the state. One thing is clear: to be a first in so many areas, to be such a trailblazer in public service you have to be strong. You have to be committed to making a difference in the lives of others.

The role of a first is not to walk through a door and then close only to prevent future entry by others. The role of a first is to walk through that door of opportunity, open new doors, and create new opportunities for others. And so, my challenge to all of us is: to avoid the legacy of the one and only.

We don’t need to create any more opportunities that die with an individual. We need more legacies like Stephanie’s—the kind of legacy that lives on. Her legacy demands that we do what Gandhi once said—to “be the change you want to see in the world.” This is the change we see in Barack Obama. So, let’s continue to trail blaze, to take the road less traveled, so that someone else can walk down that road. Then our living will not be in vain.

We’re going to see a video tribute to other great Democrats who passed away over the last four years.

Now let us observe a moment of silence to honor Stephanie’s memory.

Senator Patrick Leahy

Tue, 26 Aug 2008 13:10:12 -0400

I’m Patrick Leahy. I live on a dirt road in a town of 1,800 in Vermont. I know rural America. Vermont is proud to be part of rural America, but like communities across the heartland, we are struggling from eight years of the Bush/Cheney economy. Rural communities face disproportionately high unemployment rates, violent crime is up, and no one is hurt by record high energy prices more than we are.

Finally, after eight years of failed policies and misplaced priorities, we can turn the page. Rural America can’t afford more of the same. Rural America needs the change Barack Obama offers. Our communities have suffered a 10 percent drop in household income, three times the national average. As jobs continue to disappear, 8 million rural Americans now live in poverty.

Through it all, George Bush and Dick Cheney have sided with big business and big oil and left the rest of us to fend for ourselves. As much as John McCain would like us to believe he’s different, his economic plan offers not a single new idea, just more of the same.

Barack Obama will give us the change we need. He will lift our economy immediately by taking some of big oil’s windfall profits and returning $1,000 to the pockets of working families. He will invest in what rural America needs most of all, good new jobs, with a clean energy initiative that will move us away from oil and put 5 million Americans to work. And unlike John McCain, for whom the internet is a mystery, Barack Obama understands that rural communities can’t be competitive until we have high-speed internet access across the heartland.

Now, as a former prosecutor, I know rural Americans value safe homes and secure communities. That’s why the rural spike in violent crimes is so disturbing to us. George Bush wants to cut funding from local law enforcement. Joe Biden and I worked together on the COPS Program that put 100,000 officers on the beat. Now, Barack Obama and Joe Biden have a plan to hire even more.

No one in America escapes the burden of gas prices that have nearly tripled during the Bush administration, but no one feels it worse than rural communities, where we travel the furthest distances to commute to work, take our children to school and buy groceries. Instead of helping us, George Bush heaps billion-dollar tax breaks on top of big oil’s multi-billion-dollar profits and, now, the very same oil companies that have called the shots in the Bush White House are doubling down on McCain.

Big oil knows McCain’s a sure bet to look out for them. We know Barack Obama will look out for us. Unlike Senator McCain, Senator Obama has a comprehensive and balanced energy plan to lower prices. He will stop speculators from bidding up prices; responsibly produce more oil here at home; and, most importantly, he’ll move us away from oil and towards clean, renewable fuels.

So, for rural America, this choice could not be clearer. John McCain offers four more years of the same Bush-Cheney policies that have failed us. Barack Obama is on our side and he’ll deliver the change we desperately need. After eight long years, now is our chance to get our country back on the right track. When Barack Obama is president, we can once again look with hope to a prosperous new day for our rural communities, from the Rocky Mountains of Colorado to the Green Mountains of Vermont.

Representative Chris Van Hollen

Tue, 26 Aug 2008 13:11:39 -0400

This election, the American people face a choice. And the choice is this: Will we continue down the dead-end path of lost opportunities that has marked the last eight years of George Bush? Or will we seize the awesome possibilities of this new century to deliver the change we need and build a brighter, more prosperous and more peaceful future? That is our choice. And our decision will have consequences for our economy, for our schools and for our health. Consequences that will be felt for years to come all over America and in places far from our shores.

I know this first hand. My father served in the Navy and then went on to become a United States Foreign Service officer, proudly representing America in places like Turkey and India and Pakistan, where I was born. I learned a lot about the world as a child in those places, but I also learned a lot about America.

One memory of those years stands out. It was in the early 1970s, and I had just turned 14. One day, I traveled with my parents to a tiny remote village in Sri Lanka. There, I walked into a family’s small hut and as my eyes adjusted to the light, I noticed, hanging on the wall, a portrait of President John F. Kennedy. It was 10 years after he had been in the White House and half a world away from our country, but for these villagers it represented the America that had sent Peace Corps volunteers to help them. It represented the America they looked to as a land of opportunity and as a force for good and justice around the world. That portrait of our president represented an America that was a beacon of hope.

Today because of the policies of George Bush, John McCain and their Republican allies in Congress, that beacon has dimmed, not only for the world, but for many Americans. Here at home the American dream of good-paying jobs, of affordable healthcare, of a college education often seems just that: just a dream. Abroad, America’s image has been tarnished, our alliances weakened, and Osama Bin Laden is still at large. The American people cannot afford more of the same.

This election, we have a chance to relight the beacon for the world, to restore the dream for Americans, to realize the change we need by electing Barack Obama and Joe Biden, and expanding our Democratic majority in congress. We can do this.

We started in 2006, when the American people voted for change, for a new direction. And the Democratic Congress has delivered: landmark lobbying reform, a pay raise for troops and tax relief for their families, a new GI bill with free college education for Iraq and Afghanistan veterans, the first increase in the minimum wage in a decade, the first expansion of family and medical leave in 15 years, the first improvement in fuel efficiency standards in 32 years, the largest college aid expansion in 64 years, the largest veterans’ health care funding in the history of the Veterans Administration.

And in each of these victories, we had an ally in the Senate: Barack Obama. But in too many other areas, we’ve been blocked by George Bush, John McCain and their Republican allies in Congress. When it came to stopping giveaways to big oil, to exploring the life-saving science of stem cells, to offering health care to 10 million American children, to responsibly ending the war in Iraq, the American people’s pleas for change have been ignored by a Republican leadership that has made theirs the party of no, veto and the status quo.

So, now we have to finish the job. But President Barack Obama won’t be able to do it alone. For the change we need, we not only need to elect Barack Obama as our next president, we need to give him a robust Democratic majority in Congress. Working together, we will bring affordable health care to every American. We will give a tax cut to help millions of hard-working families. We will free our nation from Middle East oil. We will rededicate this nation to confronting the real threats America faces in the world.

The wave for change that began in 2006 continues to grow. Already this year, we’ve won special elections in districts no one thought we’d win: in Illinois, Louisiana and Mississippi. Now we take our campaign to whole country, with more than 50 terrific Democratic candidates for change.

And we’re honored to have some of them with us tonight: from New Jersey’s 3rd District, a fighter for the middle class, state Senator John Adler; from Illinois’ 11th, an independent fighter with a track record of creating new jobs in her district, state Senator Debbie Halverson; leading an incredible grassroots campaign across Florida’s 25th, Joe Garcia; from New Mexico’s 3rd district, a dedicated community leader, Ben Ray Lujan; a proven leader and the beloved mayor of Hialeah running in Florida’s 21st, Raul Martinez; from Florida’s 13th District, a bank teller who worked her way up, a pioneering businesswoman and community leader, Christine Jennings; and bringing independent leadership that Minnesotans of the 3rd district are seeking, a patriot who served in Iraq as a U.S. Marine, Ashwin Madia.

These are just a few of the 50 outstanding candidates for change that are running across the country from Alabama to Alaska, from New York to New Mexico, and right here in the great state of Colorado. We must succeed, because if we make the right choice this election, it will mean a new direction for America and the world for years to come.

It will mean that one day, decades from now, another young boy will go into a home in a remote village in a faraway part of the world, and there, hanging on the wall, will be the portrait of another American president, a president we elected in 2008, a president who again made America a beacon of hope in the world, a president who restored the American dream at home, rebuilding our economy, our schools, our confidence. A president who lit the torch and inspired a new generation to believe again—a president named Barack Obama.

Representative Dennis Kucinich

Tue, 26 Aug 2008 13:28:15 -0400

It’s Election Day 2008. We Democrats are giving America a wake-up call. Wake up, America. In 2001, the oil companies, the war contractors and the neo-con artists seized the economy and have added 4 trillion dollars of unproductive spending to the national debt. We now pay four times more for defense, three times more for gasoline and home heating oil and twice what we paid for health care.

Millions of Americans have lost their jobs, their homes, their health care, their pensions. Trillions of dollars for an unnecessary war paid with borrowed money. Tens of billions of dollars in cash and weapons disappeared into thin air, at the cost of the lives of our troops and innocent Iraqis, while all the president’s oilmen are maneuvering to grab Iraq’s oil.

Borrowed money to bomb bridges in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan. No money to rebuild bridges in America. Money to start a hot war with Iran. Now we have another cold war with Russia, while the American economy has become a game of Russian roulette.

If there was an Olympics for misleading, mismanaging and misappropriating, this administration would take the gold. World records for violations of national and international laws. They want another four-year term to continue to alienate our allies, spend our children’s inheritance and hollow out our economy.

We can’t afford another Republican administration. Wake up, America. The insurance companies took over health care. Wake up, America. The pharmaceutical companies took over drug pricing.

Wake up, America. The speculators took over Wall Street. Wake up, America. They want to take your Social Security. Wake up, America. Multinational corporations took over our trade policies, factories are closing, good paying jobs lost.

Wake up, America. We went into Iraq for oil. The oil companies want more. War against Iran will mean $10-a-gallon gasoline. The oil administration wants to drill more, into your wallet. Wake up, America. Weapons contractors want more. An Iran war will cost 5 to 10 trillion dollars.

This administration can tap our phones. They can’t tap our creative spirit. They can open our mail. They can’t open economic opportunities. They can track our every move. They lost track of the economy while the cost of food, gasoline and electricity skyrockets. They skillfully played our post-9/11 fears and allowed the few to profit at the expense of the many. Every day we get the color orange, while the oil companies, the insurance companies, the speculators, the war contractors get the color green.

Wake up, America. This is not a call for you to take a new direction from right to left. This is call for you to go from down to up. Up with the rights of workers. Up with wages. Up with fair trade. Up with creating millions of good paying jobs, rebuilding our bridges, ports and water systems. Up with creating millions of sustainable energy jobs to lower the cost of energy, lower carbon emissions and protect the environment.

Up with health care for all. Up with education for all. Up with home ownership. Up with guaranteed retirement benefits. Up with peace. Up with prosperity. Up with the Democratic Party. Up with Obama-Biden.

Wake up, America. Wake up, America. Wake up, America.

The Honorable John Chiang

Tue, 26 Aug 2008 13:29:44 -0400

Four years ago, the son of a Kenyan father and Kansan mother stood before you and delivered an address that lifted our nation’s hearts and hopes by reminding us that together we can achieve greatness. As I watched him speak, I couldn’t help but think that unlikely as his story may be, it is my story too. It is our story. It is the American story.

On the surface, it could be viewed that Barack Obama’s parents had little in common with my parents. His father came from Africa; my parents came from Asia. They spoke different languages. Their paths surely never crossed. Yet our parents had much in common because they were united by the values they taught their sons: that in America, it doesn’t matter where you came from, but where you are going. It doesn’t matter what your name is, but whether you are willing to work hard to make a name for yourself.

Barack Obama’s life reaffirms the American dream, a dream living in the hearts and lives of countless American families from the eastern shores, to the farmlands, to the Rocky Mountains, to my beloved California, and beyond. This is our nation’s great promise. But the promise feels harder to reach.

As the Controller of the State of California, my job is to build a brighter fiscal future for my state and her 38 million residents. Like every state, California is struggling with foreclosures, record gas prices and rising unemployment. We are working harder than ever, but still many of us are falling further and further behind.

But we know our future is still golden. We know of a path to the promised land and Barack Obama will lead us there. He understands, as John F. Kennedy said, that “a rising tide lifts all boats.” Together we will rise, or together we will fall.

Here in Denver, and all across our country, we choose to rise. Together, we will rise and reject another four years of the same policies that brought us from a decade of economic prosperity to a decade of economic despair. Together, we will rise and overcome the challenges of poverty, access to health care, and energy independence.

Barack Obama will give us the change we need, so that the values of hard work and opportunity that our parents taught us will ring just as loud, clear and true for our children as they did for us. Let those values be our calling. And once again build a country that embraces the great promise of her people.

Thank you and God bless you all.

Governor Jim Doyle

Tue, 26 Aug 2008 13:31:07 -0400

When I was a boy in junior high school, millions of young Americans like me were called to the noble patriotism of service by John F. Kennedy. I felt then—and I know now—that his words were directed at me.

I carried his call in my heart as my wife, Jessica, and I joined the Peace Corps, served in Tunisia, and took my first job back home helping some of America’s most desperately poor at an Indian reservation in Chinle, Arizona. I carry his call today as I fight for the working families of Wisconsin.

Democrats, this is our time to revive the spirit of Kennedy that brought so many of us into public service and together in this great hall. We are ready to move past eight years of an economic doctrine that favors the rich and ignores the rest. We are ready to reject John McCain’s campaign that offers nothing but four years of more of the same. We are ready to innovate, build and work hard to achieve our dreams. For the people of my state, hard work is nothing new. We get up every day to face the challenges ahead of us: caring for our families, teaching our children and doing our jobs to the very best of our abilities.

For as long as I can remember, there has been a sort of unwritten rule in America. Some call it the American dream. It says that if you work hard and play by the rules, you can go as far in life as your talent and dedication will take you. In Wisconsin and across our country today, people are working just as hard as ever. They are still playing by the rules. But they are finding their dreams further and further out of reach.

My family, I think, was among the earliest to endorse Barack Obama. I’d say it happened about five minutes into the keynote speech he delivered four years ago. I have asked all my family members why they support Senator Obama so strongly, but no one said it better than my 8-year-old grandson, Asiah. He said, “We need a president who will work hard for us.” That’s the wisdom of a child.

In Barack Obama, we will know what it is to have a president who really works hard for us. And he knows that the best way to get America working again is by investing in the green energy jobs of tomorrow. Just this month, I was at a small-town factory in northern Wisconsin called Merit Gear, which has a long history of making gearboxes. Most of them used to go into cars and trucks. But now, their largest and most highly engineered gears are turning inside the generators of windmills. They say business is booming.

The boom at Merit Gear can happen in factories and towns everywhere. But that will only happen if we have a president committed to investing in education, job training and low taxes for clean energy innovators. John McCain stands for more of the same. Barack Obama has a plan to put 5 million Americans to work in well-paying clean energy jobs. That’s the kind of change we need, and now is our chance to make it happen.

But this victory and this new direction will not come easy. The entrenched powers of the Bush/Cheney years have everything to gain from keeping things just the way they are. They will pull out all the stops to elect John McCain because they know he’ll keep looking out for them. But I have news for them: their days are numbered.

Our time has come. I promise to you that I am going to work my heart out for Barack Obama. I’ll do it for my grandson so that he is blessed in his life with the hopeful and determined spirit that John Kennedy gave me. I’ll work for Barack Obama so that all of our children and grandchildren know what it means to have a president who works for us. I know Wisconsin will work hard. I know all of you will work hard. And together, we will elect a president as good as the people of our great country.

Thank you, everyone. On, Wisconsin. And God bless America.

Governor Ted Strickland

Tue, 26 Aug 2008 13:32:22 -0400

Earlier today, we had a moment of silence to remember the life of Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones. Right now, let’s have a moment of celebration for everything she’s given us. The state she helped represent—the great state of Ohio—has a bit of almost everything this great nation has to offer.

But along with the beauty and promise of America, a big, diverse state like Ohio also lives with the challenges of the American economy. And tonight, at kitchen tables across Ohio and the heartland, mothers and fathers are worried. They’re worried because DHL just said it was planning to cut 8,200 jobs, and they wonder if their jobs are going to be next.

They’re worried because they have a child in Iraq, risking life and limb in a war that has taken too many lives, cost too much money and injured too many families. And when their child returns to America, they worry that their child might have to leave their hometown again to find a job.

They’re worried because Midwesterners are more likely to lose a neighbor to foreclosure than gain a neighbor who buys a house. And can you imagine? There’s now a realtor’s group outside Cincinnati offering a class called “foreclosure opportunities.”

And while families are losing sleep tonight trying to figure out some way to make their paycheck stretch through one more day, John McCain is sleeping better than ever. He's sleeping better than ever because he thinks “Americans, overall, are better off…” thanks to President Bush.

And would you believe he said last week that the fundamentals of the economy are strong. He has no problem hitting the snooze button on the economy, because he's never been a part of the middle class. And I would say to him: Senator McCain, it’s time for your wake-up call. Because we just can’t afford more of the same.

Now, when I was a little boy, I went to a one-room school house. One of the rules we had in school was that when you made mistakes on your homework, you had to correct them because if you didn't correct your mistakes, you would repeat them. If John McCain doesn’t know the economic policies he’s been supporting for eight years have failed the heartland—and failed this country—he's destined to repeat those mistakes.

Now, I could say that John McCain represents four more years of Bush policies. But I don’t have to, because his campaign is telling you the very same thing. He and the Washington lobbyists who run his campaign are offering policies that are stuck in the past and that will keep our economy stuck in reverse. Stuck-in-the-past policies that mean Warren Buffet, one of the wealthiest men in America, pays a lower rate of income tax than his secretary, and he’ll be the first to tell you, that’s wrong.

Stuck-in-the-past trade deals that mean a father has to give up his high-skilled job manufacturing refrigeration equipment, for a low-wage job, stocking the freezer aisle at a grocery store; a stuck-in-the-past energy policy that can’t look beyond old fuels like oil to new sources like wind and solar, because oil lobbyists wrote the policy; and a war that sends 10 billion of our tax dollars per month to build the Iraqi economy, while bridges and roads collapse here at home.

You know, it was once said of the first George Bush that he was born on third base and thought he’d hit a triple. Well, with the 22 million new jobs and the budget surplus Bill Clinton left behind, George W. Bush came into office on third base—and then he stole second. And John McCain cheered him every step of the way. For Ohioans and all Americans, we can’t afford more of the same. It’s time for a change—and Barack Obama will bring the change we need.

Barack Obama will give a $1,000 tax cut for the middle class, and end the tax cuts that encourage corporations to send jobs overseas. He’ll invest in advanced manufacturing and green industries. He’ll work to bring down the cost of health care and make college more affordable. He’ll remove roadblocks in front of new small businesses and start-up companies.

For Ohio and for the nation, there’s more than hope in these ideas—there are jobs. Investing in advanced energy industries will create 5 million green jobs across this country. In Ohio alone, investing in wind power could boost wages by more than $3.5 billion by 2020. That’s the change we need.

It’s the change from thinking everyone’s born on third base, to making sure everybody has their chance at bat. That people don’t have to sit out in this economy anymore because they can pay for college, can get a loan to start a small business, can afford the treatment they need to get healthy.

It’s time for a president who will bring our jobs back and bring our troops home. For the change we need, it’s time for Barack Obama.

Governor Joe Manchin

Tue, 26 Aug 2008 13:33:25 -0400

Hello, I am Joe Manchin, governor of the great state of West Virginia and chairman of the Democratic Governors Association. It is an honor to stand before you today. Governors work across party lines to get things done. We’re held accountable each and every day for finding ways to solve our states’ most pressing problems. Twenty-eight states—including both red and blue states—currently have Democrats in the governor’s office. They are doing what hard-working families have to do, living within their means and keeping their budgets in balance.

Our goal is to simply keep our country strong and our economy vibrant, state by state. In West Virginia, state leadership has produced a record number of new jobs, low unemployment and fewer taxes. We’ve reduced the size of state government and tackled our debts. Now, the time has come for Washington to follow our example and bridge partisan divides to bring America the change it needs. The states of our union can’t afford any more of the same old gridlock that currently reigns in Washington.

What we need from Washington is a realistic energy policy, as well as healthcare for every working person. We need a commitment to fixing our roads and bridges and a renewed education system that prepares our workforce to compete globally. Together, we can turn the page on November 4th by voting for the one candidate who can bring us the change we need: Barack Obama.

Now, I wasn’t born with a silver spoon in my mouth, but I like to say that I am a child of privilege. My grandparents were Italian and Czechoslovakian immigrants whose search for a better life led them to the small West Virginia coal mining towns of Farmington and Rachel. They understood that life in America was a privilege. In exchange for that privilege, they believed they had a responsibility to give something back. They taught me the importance not only of hard work, but also of having compassion for all people. The example they set, along with the unconditional love of my family and the strong support of my community, enabled me to attend college, run a successful business and launch a career in public service.

I am very proud to represent the great state of West Virginia and, most importantly, its people. West Virginians value hard work, patriotism and faith in God. They have faced adversity with courage, and they help each other in challenging times. They do the heavy lifting in the economy. They mine the coal, make the steel, and work the assembly lines that make our industries tick. Their experience and knowledge has earned each of them a Ph.D. in life. They can shake your hand, look you in the eye, and touch your heart.

And let me tell you something: They can’t afford four more years like the last eight. They need, and deserve, better from Washington. They need a president who puts their best interests first. They need a president who will tackle the major issues, balance our nation’s budget, and help struggling middle class families regain their footing. They need a president who will re-establish our country’s reputation in the world community. They need a president who will restore the promise of economic opportunity that is every American’s birthright. They need change, and they need Barack Obama as president!

Together, we can move from recession to resurgence. Together, we can stop running from our domestic problems and start sprinting toward solutions. We can raise our expectations of Washington and demand that they tackle the tough challenges, just as our nation’s governors do every day.

My fellow Americans, we need a new leader for new times. Barack Obama is the only candidate in this race who has captured our nation’s hopes for the kind of change we so desperately need. Let’s do what’s right for America and elect Barack Obama as the next president of the United States.

Thank you, God bless you, and God bless the United States of America.

Senator Barbara Mikulski

Tue, 26 Aug 2008 13:41:59 -0400

I’m Senator Barb Mikulski from the great state of Maryland.

The Democratic women of the Senate are a force for women, a force for families, and a force for change. We’re proud to introduce you to our checklist for change.

You know how we women are. We make our to-do lists. We check off our accomplishments. We get things done!

And that’s exactly what we Democrats are going to do when we take back the White House!

Let’s start with equal pay for equal work. It’s an absolute scandal that America’s women continue to earn just 77 cents for every dollar men earn. Tonight, you are going to hear from lily Ledbetter, who after years of dedicated service found out she had been paid less every day of her career. The Supreme Court said there wasn’t anything they could do about it. But there is something we can do about it. We can change the federal law book and put change in women’s checkbooks.

This November, we can’t afford more of the same. Let’s elect Barack Obama and finally get equal pay for equal work!

Thank you.

Senator Barbara Boxer

Tue, 26 Aug 2008 13:43:11 -0400

I’m Barbara Boxer and thanks to the great people of California who have elected me three times to the Senate, I now chair the Environment and Public Works Committee.

When I took the gavel from the former chairman, I told him that “elections have consequences.” When we win in November, we’ll prove it. Instead of protecting polluters, we’ll protect our families. Instead of ignoring the experts, we’ll fight global warming. Instead of facing Republican roadblocks, we’ll have a Democratic majority large enough to ensure healthy communities.

Remember: In the Senate, 60 is the new 50!

Instead of a president with an Exxon policy, we’ll have a president with an energy policy. This November, we can’t afford more of the same. Let’s elect Barack Obama so that the world’s economic and environmental leader will clearly be our nation—the United States of America.

Thank you.

Senator Mary Landrieu

Tue, 26 Aug 2008 13:44:17 -0400

I'm Mary Landrieu from the great state of Louisiana.

It's been three years since hurricanes Katrina and Rita and the failure of the federal levee system devastated New Orleans, the region, and parts of the Gulf coast.

The Bush White House, the Republican leadership, and FEMA showed up not just late, but unprepared.

America deserves a FEMA that works. A FEMA that understands the best ways to leverage the private sector and non-profits. A FEMA that will rebuild our communities with respect, dignity, and determination.

America deserves a president who is willing to cut through the red tape and serve the people, not the bureaucracy. A president who will stand with mayors and governors, not against them, to get the job done.

That is the hope of the people of America, and that is the promise of Barack Obama.

Thank you.

Senator Blanche Lambert Lincoln

Tue, 26 Aug 2008 13:45:30 -0400

I’m Blanche Lincoln, and I’m proud to represent the great state of Arkansas.

As mothers, daughters, wives, sisters, and legislators, we know how important quality, affordable healthcare is to America’s working families.

Yet 47 million Americans lack health insurance, and 80 percent of them are from working families. We’re in the midst of a national healthcare crisis, where two-thirds of Americans have trouble getting or paying for care they need.

We must reform Medicare so our seniors, who built our great country, always receive essential care. We must fulfill America’s promise to our troops so that their sacrifice will be rewarded with quality healthcare for them and their families. Every American deserves the peace of mind that a quality health plan brings.

This November, we can’t afford more of the same. Let’s elect Barack Obama and bring health security to all Americans!

Thank you.

Senator Debbie Stabenow

Tue, 26 Aug 2008 13:47:19 -0400

Good evening. I’m Senator Debbie Stabenow, representing the great state of Michigan.

The hard-working men and women of Michigan helped build America’s middle class, and they deserve a president who will fight to keep good jobs here at home.

Our state understands what a disaster the Bush-McCain policies have been for working families, who are feeling squeezed as more jobs are shipped overseas every day.

Barack Obama knows that our businesses and workers can compete with anyone in the world and win if the rules are fair. He wants to export our products, not our jobs. He’ll put American workers first, with good-paying jobs and investments in education and innovation to create the jobs of the future.

This November, we can’t afford more of the same. Let’s elect Barack Obama and get America working again!

Thank you.

Senator Maria Cantwell

Tue, 26 Aug 2008 13:48:35 -0400

I'm Maria Cantwell from the state of Washington.

I’m fortunate to represent one of the most pristine and high-tech states in the nation. We know it’s time for a president who will make energy independence America’s top priority.

After eight years of skyrocketing gas prices, eight years of families spending more and more of their paychecks at the pump, and eight years of two former oil men catering to big oil's agenda, it's time for a new energy day in America. One that makes energy more efficient and renewable, creating millions of high-wage jobs. One that allows families to spend more of their precious dollars raising children, instead of boosting oil company profits.

Who can we trust to deliver this? President Obama.

This November, we can't afford more of the same. Let’s elect Barack Obama, a new leader with new ideas and a vision to deliver a new energy day in America.

Thank you.

Senator Claire McCaskill

Tue, 26 Aug 2008 13:49:51 -0400

I’m Claire McCaskill of Missouri.

Tonight, families are balancing checkbooks at kitchen tables, trying to stay on budget. Yet as Americans take responsibility, this White House has spent our taxpayer money hand over fist —numbers so big, it’s hard to believe they are real.

Missouri is the Show-Me State because words alone don’t mean much to us. The other party may talk about fiscal responsibility, but we know better, and we aren’t going to fall for that line this time around.

This November, we can’t afford to sign up for four more years of the same deficits and cronyism.

If we want to rein in spending, root out waste, and get America out of the economic ditch this administration spent eight years driving us into, let’s elect Barack Obama our next president of the United States!

Thank you.

Senator Amy Klobuchar

Tue, 26 Aug 2008 13:51:06 -0400

I’m Amy Klobuchar from the great state of Minnesota.

My grandpa worked 1,500 feet underground in the iron ore mines of Ely, Minnesota. He never graduated from high school, but he and my grandma saved money in a coffee can to send my dad to college.

Today, it's getting harder for middle class families to make ends meet. Since 2001, the average family's income has fallen more than $1,000, but their expenses have gone up $4,500. It's a chunk of change, and it doesn't fit into a coffee can any more.

If we are going to protect the family checkbook, we need a president who'll fight for middle-class tax breaks and affordable health care and education.

This November, we can't afford more of the same. Let’s elect a president who looks out for the middle class, not the privileged class!

That's why the Democratic women of the Senate say the women of this country need Barack Obama and Joe Biden in the White House.

Thank you.

Governor Ed Rendell

Tue, 26 Aug 2008 13:52:14 -0400

It was eight years ago that George W. Bush and Dick Cheney came to Philadelphia to accept their party’s nomination. Onstage at that convention, we heard lots of talk about energy. The Republican platform itself called for expanding the renewable energy tax credit. But once elected, they broke their energy promises to the American people and let big oil determine our national energy policy.

The results of the Republican energy policy are plain. Back then, the price of gas at the pump was about $1.50 a gallon. Today, it’s $4 a gallon. Back then, it cost about $900 to heat your home through the winter. This winter, it’s more likely to be $2,500. Meanwhile, ExxonMobil just announced the largest quarterly profit in history. That’s not just an outrage. It’s obscene.

This happened because for the last eight years, the Bush-Cheney team stonewalled the taxing of oil company profits and prevented efforts to promote alternative energy production. And guess who voted with President Bush 90 percent of the time? Senator John McCain.

Now, as another Republican convention approaches, we are hearing more of the same: John McCain talking about alternative energy, energy independence and wind power. But if you look past the speeches, here’s what you see. Many of John McCain’s top advisors have worked as lobbyists for oil and gas companies. I guess that explains why he wants to give $4 billion in tax breaks to oil companies.

And if you look past the speeches to his record, it’s clear: John McCain has never believed in renewable energy and he won’t make it part of America’s future. For all his talk, here’s the truth: John McCain voted against establishing a national renewable energy standard. He voted against tax incentives for renewable energy companies. And for all his talk of drilling, he refused to endorse a bipartisan effort to expand domestic oil production because that bipartisan proposal would end tax breaks for big oil.

It’s clear: the only thing green in John McCain’s energy plan is the billions of dollars he’s promising in tax cuts for oil companies. And the only thing he’ll recycle is the same failed Bush approach to energy policy. We can’t afford more of the same. We need a strategy that puts America on a path to end the age of oil once and for all.

Pennsylvania knows something about energy leadership. Back in 1886, there was a Pennsylvania town that helped lead America into a new energy future when it created the nation’s first successful electrified streetcar system. It earned that town a nickname, the “electrical city.” The real name of that town is Scranton.

Today, a son of Scranton, Joe Biden, and a friend of Pennsylvania, Barack Obama, offer the change America needs to create a future free of foreign oil. Barack Obama and Joe Biden are committed to producing enough homegrown fuel to replace every drop of the oil we import from the Middle East and Venezuela in just 10 years. An Obama administration will invest $4 billion to keep America in the car-making business and give you a tax cut so you can buy a fuel-efficient car or truck. And it will commit to getting 1 million 150-mile-per-gallon cars on our roads within six years, and make sure they are built right here in America.

It will require that within four years, at least 10 percent of our nation’s electricity comes from alternative energy, and by 2025 we hit 25 percent. It will move immediately to make the renewable energy tax credit permanent and double the amount of energy that comes from renewable sources over the next four years.

It will invest $150 billion over the next decade to grow our energy supply and put 5 million Americans to work building solar and wind farms, clean coal gasification and geothermal plants, the kind of jobs that can’t be outsourced to India or China. It will bring everyone to the table—business, government and the American people—to reduce our demand for electricity 15 percent by the end of next decade. That’s the kind of change we need.

One person who understands what this can mean is a Pennsylvanian named Troy Galloway. Troy is a 44-year-old steelworker who was laid off after working for 15 years for the same company. But today, Troy is working in Pennsylvania for one of the largest wind energy companies in the world, and he’s earning as much as he earned at the steel mill. Troy’s new employer has more than 1,000 Pennsylvanians working green-collar jobs that pay well and have a future.

Why? Because in 2004, Pennsylvania set a standard which will require utilities to produce 20 percent of their electricity from clean renewable sources.

That’s the kind of change we need. That is what the future could look like with Barack Obama as president. If we can do it in Pennsylvania, we can do it in Ohio and Florida and Texas and New York and California. We can. And with Barack Obama and Joe Biden in the White House, we will.

Representative Tammy Baldwin

Tue, 26 Aug 2008 13:53:43 -0400

Good evening. I had the privilege of speaking to this convention four years ago, and at that time, our nation had 45.8 million people without health care insurance and millions more who were underinsured.

Today, the number of uninsured has risen to 47 million people. If you add up the entire population of Florida, Pennsylvania, Ohio and my home state of Wisconsin, you have roughly the number of uninsured people in this country. That includes more than 9 million American children with millions more who are underinsured and afraid to seek medical care because of high co-pays or limited coverage.

When the people of our great nation feel the American dream slipping out of their reach, we can't afford more of the same. Barack Obama is the change we need. For millions of hardworking Americans, many of them women, illness also means crushing debt. Half of all personal bankruptcies in this country are caused by catastrophic medical bills.

That is what happened to Sue from Beloit, Wisconsin. She told me, “My husband was diagnosed with lung cancer. After treatment began, we found out that the insurance company had a small loophole. Under our insurance, they have a $13,000 limit per year on radiation and chemotherapy. That amount did not even cover the first treatment of either radiation or chemo.” Sue said, “I was not going to have my husband die for lack of treatment, so we started to use our savings and available credit to pay for medical expenses. My husband later died.”

“After having completely depleted our savings and facing insurmountable credit card debt,” she told me, “I had no choice but to file bankruptcy last year.” Sue's story is common all across the country. For eight long years, we've had a president more concerned about the health of insurance companies than the health of the American people.

John McCain is more of the same. But we have a choice in this election.

Barack Obama recognizes that good health care is as necessary to a productive society as a good education. Barack Obama understands that investing in people restores the American dream. And Barack Obama believes we can create a safer, stronger, healthier society.

This November, we have an historic opportunity to strengthen our health care system, reduce costs and make coverage available to all who need it.

I'm voting for the change we need to bring health care to all. I'm voting for Barack Obama!

Representative Xavier Becerra

Tue, 26 Aug 2008 13:55:34 -0400

Are Democrats in the house tonight? Are you ready to work? Ready to win? You say you’re ready to work. But before any of us arrived here, men and women were already hard at work cleaning, fixing, improving. And when we leave, they will still be here, working and working.

These Americans turned on the lights for this convention, and they will be there to turn them off. They are among the millions of Americans who patrol our streets, harvest our food and care for our loved ones. They are our nation’s backbone, the bedrock of our cherished ethic of perseverance. My friends, let’s let all of America’s workers know: they are in the house tonight!

Yet after eight years of failed economic policies–policies Senator McCain has promised to continue–so many of these folks are feeling invisible and insecure. Over the past eight years, family incomes have dropped $1,000. In just the last six months, 460,000 people have lost their jobs. More than a million family homes are in foreclosure. Record deficit— record and growing debt. Republican fiscal policy—the “gift” that keeps on giving!

If that’s what Republicans mean by con-serv-atism, then we’ll have no more of the con that they’re serving! That’s why we need Barack Obama. Because he’ll take on the naysayers and the special interests. He’ll fight for the forgotten middle class.

Just as our beloved Cesar Chavez dared farmworkers to believe, “si se puede!”…. “yes, we can.” Barack Obama will say to every American that if you work your heart out every day—if you leave it all at the construction site, in the laboratory, in the classroom, at the operating table—then we’ll help you open the door to college and to the doctor’s office. We’ll help you save for the down payment or a dignified retirement. We’ll help you build a better life for your family.

I am the proud son of immigrants, a former member of Local 187 of the laborers union in California, first in my family to receive a university diploma, privileged to have served 16 years in the people’s house representing the great city of Los Angeles. And there is a saying I’ve always believed in: dime con quien andas y te dire quien eres. Tell me with whom you walk and I will tell you who you are.

Well, my friends, I know with whom I walk. I walk with those who build and drive, cook and clean, feed and bathe, protect and serve. And, my fellow Americans, in January, 2009, we will finally have a leader who walks with us—the next President of the United States, Barack Obama!

John Sweeney

Tue, 26 Aug 2008 13:57:08 -0400

All over America, children like Marcus Lewis are riding their bikes, starting sixth grade, and dreaming of breaking Olympic records or just finding a good job and raising a family. But unless we turn our country around, they’re not going to make it, not even into the middle class.

Marcus’s mom, Annette, is a single mother who worked hard to get her children where they are today. She works full time and is struggling to send her 18-year-old daughter to college. But after the rent and the bills, there’s hardly enough left over for food.

Dan Luevano is an electrician who worked for a construction company for ten years, six of them without a raise. When he told his boss he’d be voting for a union so he could bargain for a better life, he was fired.

Steve Skvara is a retired steelworker who learned about unfair trade the hard way when the giant company where he’d worked went bankrupt, cut his pension by a third, and eliminated his family’s health care.

These are good people. Strong people. They work hard and believe in their country, their faith and the future. They can’t afford four more years like the last eight. They need change, and that’s why they all support Barack Obama for President of the United States.

They deserve a better America, an America where every worker can count on a good job. Where every family has health care. Where every senior enjoys a decent retirement. They deserve an America that works for everyone. Where all workers have a free choice to join unions, to collectively bargain, to lift up their communities and our economy, and build a better life for their children.

Whatever happened to the promise of a better America? What happened was that the Bush Administration—with the support of Senator McCain—broke that promise, undermined our values, and turned our economy into a threshing machine for big business.

Brothers and sisters, this is our chance to create much-needed change for young people like Marcus and rebuild this country we love. We can create the better America that Annette, Steve, and Dan—and all of us—deserve. A country whose heart is as big as the hearts of its people. A country that lifts up our families here at home and lights up the world with our vision and values.

On behalf of America’s unions, with 28 million voters in union households, we will win for Barack Obama and Joe Biden, and we will create a better America.

Thank you and god bless America.

Robin Golden

Tue, 26 Aug 2008 13:58:09 -0400

Good evening Denver. I am Robin Golden from Grand Rapids, Michigan. I am president of UAW Local 2344. Ten years ago, I started working for an auto parts manufacturer. I am an end-of-the-line inspector: I make sure our products are safe before they get into the cars that Americans drive.

When I first took my job, the economy was growing and business was booming. It looked like I had a great future there. I believed if I worked hard and did good work, I would have a job until I retired.

In two weeks, I will be unemployed. My job is being shipped to Mexico, along with the jobs of most of my 430 hourly co-workers. That means every single member of my local will be unemployed in two weeks. I am not just losing my job; I am losing my union—and all the benefits it has brought me. I feel like I am losing my chance to get ahead.

Meanwhile, in Washington, Senator McCain voted for tax breaks for companies that outsource jobs. Senator McCain voted against supporting those companies whose products are made by American workers like me. It’s time for a change.

I’ve just been diagnosed with diabetes and my health insurance runs out three months after I lose my job. Paying for it out of pocket will be one-third of my unemployment benefit. It’s time for a change.

Gas and grocery prices keep going up, and everyone’s paychecks are buying less. Families all around us in Michigan are losing their homes. I’ve sent out resumes to try and find a new job, but I haven’t even heard anything back. I can’t even think about retirement any more. It’s time for a change.

I have worked hard my entire life. My wife works hard as a librarian. We clip coupons. We make sacrifices. Because we love America, we want to protect and strengthen the American dream. We want a fair chance to get ahead for all who work hard. I want a president who represents working-class families, not big oil companies. I want a president who knows that organized labor helped build the middle class, and that organized labor helps keep our middle class strong. I want a president who will keep American jobs here at home.

The change we need is Barack Obama for president. Americans, unite! Let’s come together to send someone to Washington who will work for American jobs, American energy independence and the American dream. Let’s come together for Barack Obama!

Representative Rahm Emanuel

Tue, 26 Aug 2008 13:59:06 -0400

Good evening. I’m from Chicago, hometown of the next president of the United States, Barack Obama.

In the 2006 election, Democrats, Independents, and even some Republicans scored a victory that President Bush himself called “a thumpin’.” Well, Mr. President, as Ronald Reagan used to say, “you ain’t seen nothing yet.”

The truth is, the Bush crowd has been giving the middle class a thumping. This November, the middle class is going to give it right back. This election comes down to a simple question: do we want four more years of Bush-McCain or do we want the change we need?

There is only one candidate from the middle class, that understands the middle class, and that can deliver the change the middle class needs: Barack Obama. A strong economy depends on a strong middle class. But George Bush has put the middle class in a hole and John McCain has a plan to keep digging that hole with George Bush’s shovel.

Under George Bush, median household incomes have declined nearly $1,000. College costs have doubled. Health care costs have doubled. And energy costs have tripled. Under George Bush, you’re paying more and making less.

If John McCain has his way, your bills will continue to grow and your paycheck will continue to shrink. Under George Bush, millions of Americans are without health care. And those that do have health care are seeing their co-pays go up and their coverage go down. If John McCain has his way, we’ll stick with the policies that will leave more Americans uninsured and far too many Americans paying more for health care and getting less.

You know, President Bush inherited the strongest economy in history and a huge budget surplus. He inherited an economy that created 23 million new jobs. I’m a little surprised. You would think the one thing President Bush was good at was inheriting things. Instead he turned a $236 billion surplus into a record deficit and added nearly $4 trillion in new debt. That’s the one thing we can say about George Bush: Mr. President, we will be forever in your debt.

When it comes to the economy, when it comes to job creation, when it comes to health care reform, or when it comes to deficit reduction, there are three words that describe the Bush-McCain record: mission not accomplished.

It doesn’t have to be this way. Barack Obama will make change a reality for middle class Americans. In an Obama-Biden administration, American families will finally get a new deal for a new economy: a tax cut they earned, health care they can afford, a pension they can keep and a college education they deserve.

Families like the Walshes from Chicago’s Edgebrook neighborhood: Marge and Don Walsh raised a family and taught their kids to know the difference between right from wrong. Their son Sean is a plumber who signed up for the Illinois National Guard and when his nation called, served two tours of duty in Iraq.

The Walshes have done everything this country has asked of them and more. But the Walshes and families like them can’t afford four more years of playing second fiddle to the well- connected and the powerful. And our country can’t afford four more years of Bush-McCain economics.

I know the Walshes, and I know Barack Obama. And families like the Walshes can trust Barack Obama. Because Barack Obama will always put hard-working middle class families first. He will stand up to the special interests and stand up for middle class Americans. The only special interests welcomed in the Oval Office will be those of the Walshes and middle-class families like them. And Barack Obama will deliver the change our country so desperately needs.

Katherine Marcano

Tue, 26 Aug 2008 14:05:48 -0400

I am here today because I dared to believe, to hope, against all the odds. It’s not easy growing up in poverty; it’s not easy going to bed hungry or going to school with inappropriate shoes.

It’s not easy having to hold more than one job, just to make ends meet. It’s not easy not having access to health care when you need it.

This is the greatest country in the world. Yet people like me and my younger sister Barbara are going through real hard times. Barbara has cerebral palsy and is developmentally disabled and in a wheelchair. I took her under my wing because my mother has heart problems and is physically unable to take care of my sister’s needs. Now, I go to school and work nights at a company that cares about me.

But it’s still hard when I have to take my sister Barbara to school, to her medical appointments and I have to fight for the services and resources she needs. I am determined to do well and get a degree and a different pay grade so I can live a better life and provide for my family. But I am tired and overwhelmed, stuck in a system that tells me there is not enough funding for disabled kids like my sister. I am told we have to wait, we have to be patient. But I am running out of patience. And I am done waiting.

Ladies and gentlemen, it’s time for a change. It’s time to elect Barack Obama President of the United States. Barack Obama understands the needs of real families like mine. He understands that access to health care isn’t a luxury for the few, but a necessity for all of us. He understands that higher education isn’t just for the privileged few, but also for people like me who are fighting to get ahead.

Under President Obama, we’ll have tax cuts for working families and an increase in the minimum wage. We’ll have bankruptcy protections for families who are hit with unexpected medical bills. We’ll have a credit card bill of rights for consumers, so credit card companies can’t raise interest rates without notice. And we’ll reward companies for keeping jobs here in America, not for shipping them overseas.

Barack Obama understands that we all have a stake in each other. That our whole country moves ahead when we all move ahead together. I ask each and every one of you: see Barack Obama with my eyes. Feel him with my heart. And support Barack Obama for President of the United States for the change we need.

Representative Steny Hoyer

Tue, 26 Aug 2008 14:04:12 -0400

My fellow delegates, tonight, we turn the page on eight years of debt, division and an economy in decline. We turn the page on a Republican administration that has failed to bring Americans together to meet the challenges of an uncertain century. A Republican administration that saw the deadliest attack ever sustained on American soil and called Americans not to serve, but to shop. A Republican administration that inherited a projected surplus of $5.6 trillion, economic policies that created 22 million jobs, a foreign policy that deserved and earned respect around the world, and squandered all of it in an historic failure of leadership.

Eight years later, what do they have to show for it? The surpluses squandered, our national reputation tattered, jobs lost. We all know this. Even John McCain concedes that “we are worse off than we were four years ago.”

But you can’t expect change from a Senator who voted in lockstep with President Bush 95 percent of the last year. No, we can’t afford more of the same. We need new leadership. We need change. It’s time to elect Barack Obama President of the United States!

Americans have been asking for change since November 2006. And we Democrats are heeding the call. We Democrats have been fighting every day for working people and their families. We’ve raised the minimum wage and put the focus back on hard-working Americans, the backbone of our economy.

We’ve passed an energy bill to make our cars more efficient and our conservation more effective. We’re supporting alternative fuels to free us from the tyranny of dependence on foreign oil. We passed a new GI Bill to honor the sacrifices of our men and women in uniform. And every day, we strive to honor a principle familiar to every American family: We won’t spend more money than we have.

I am proud of all of those accomplishments. But the truth is that the Republicans in the White House and in the Senate have stopped real change. Americans want a single-minded focus on terrorists’ defeat and al-Qaida’s total destruction, not decades of American troops in Baghdad.

Americans are tired of country club economics. We want an economy that works for all of us, for people who are struggling to own just one home, much less seven. Americans want clean energy and lower gas prices, not subsidies for oil companies making record profits. And Americans want affordable health care for their children and their families.

But we won’t get the change we need with John McCain in the White House. We can, we must do better. With your hard work, on January 20th, Barack Obama will stand on the steps of the Capitol and take the oath of office. We’ll have a President of the United States who will call Americans to service, to excellence, to renewal of the Declaration’s principles that have been a light of inspiration to millions at home and around the world.

Senator Obama has reminded us: “These are the soul-trying times our forebearers spoke of, when the ease of complacency and self-interest must give way. This was true for those who went to Lexington and Concord. It was true for those who lie buried at Gettysburg. It was true for those who built democracy’s arsenal to vanquish fascism.” It must be true of us.

We Democrats pledge ourselves to that cause, to turn the page on the past and give the American story new meaning in this soul-trying new century. When dawn breaks on January 21st, we will begin the long, tough, essential job before us: bringing America the change we need. No matter how challenging, no matter how painstaking it may be, I promise you this: We Democrats will stand shoulder to shoulder with the American people to bring true change, long hoped for and long delayed.

And here in Denver, we ask a man of character, intellect, compassion, vision and achievement to lead that change. Because that is what this moment demands. That is what we must do to renew the promise of our great nation. For the change we need, we must elect Barack Obama and Joe Biden the next president and vice president of the United States of America.

Pauline Beck

Tue, 26 Aug 2008 14:09:33 -0400

Good evening. My name is Pauline Beck. I’m a homecare worker in Oakland, California, and a very proud supporter of Senator Obama for president!

I’m here tonight because one year ago, Senator Obama spent a day with me, doing my job. That’s right, doing homecare with me. He helped me take care of an 87 year-old man named Mr. John. Mr. John is a proud man, and I help him stay in his home.

You know what he did, the next President of the United States? Senator Obama did laundry. He mopped floors. He made lunch. He changed the sheets. He did dishes. And he talked with Mr. John about his family and his career as a cement mason.

Senator Obama spent the day in my shoes. He didn’t want to talk politics or pose for pictures. Senator Obama wanted to work. That’s the kind of president we need, someone who really understands working people.

My job is to help people, and I love my job. But being a homecare worker is hard. The wages are low, the hours can be long, and the work can be physically challenging. Our union, SEIU, is a great help. But workers need a president who stands up for us.

All his life, Senator Obama has understood the importance of work. First from his single mom, then struggling families in Chicago, now all Americans. I’ll never forget the day I spent working with Senator Obama, and I know he won’t either. He was my co-worker, he is my friend, and next November, he will be our president.

Anna Burger

Tue, 26 Aug 2008 14:07:10 -0400

I grew up in Levittown, Pennsylvania, in the 1950s believing in the American dream. My mom was a nurse, working the evening shift. My dad, a Teamster truck driver, was permanently disabled in a terrible accident when I was 9. Dad’s Social Security and Medicare—and mom’s enormous strength—allowed my sisters, brother and me to get by and even go to college, without being buried by debt.

After I got my first union job, my dad gave me some good advice. He said, “Stick to the union. It’s what makes a difference for working people like us.” Unions are the best all-in-one program for working families that America ever had—and it didn’t cost the government a dime.

My dad was right. Unions help ordinary people like me, like truck drivers. Nurses. And farm, factory and construction workers, who work hard to find a way to own a home. Raise a family. Send our kids to college and retire with dignity.

Our unions helped us pass on to our kids a better life than our own. And we call this legacy the American dream. But today, that dream is fading. After eight years of George W. Bush, work hours are up but wages are down. And John McCain is offering more of the same. The gap between the rich and the rest of America—it’s staggering and growing. And John McCain is offering more of the same. Nine in 10 workers have no union, while healthcare costs are exploding, pensions wiped out. Job security, a thing of the past.

Working people in this country can’t afford more of the same. But that’s exactly what John McCain’s offering—more of the same. Brothers and sisters, it is time for change, and I stand here today to tell you that working people all around this country know—Barack Obama will bring the change we need.

Barack Obama believes in an America where workers have a voice on the job and their hard work is valued and rewarded. Where health care is affordable and accessible. Where corporations pay their fair share, and workers are free to join a union without being harassed or intimidated.

Barack Obama believes in an America in which we work with each other, take care of each other and where our kids do even better than we do. Barack Obama will bring the change we need. And when he is our president, working families around this country will again know that the American dream is within the reach of everyone who calls this great country home.

Governor Janet Napolitano

Tue, 26 Aug 2008 14:10:43 -0400

Good evening. I am Janet Napolitano, the Governor of Arizona. Arizonans are rightly proud of our state. We encompass everything from ancient Indian villages to burgeoning cities and towns. We mine copper and herd cattle, but we also conduct genomics-based cancer research and lead the nation in advancing solar technology.

Arizonans are also proud of their political tradition, from Barry Goldwater to Mo Udall to Bruce Babbitt. There’s a pattern here. Barry Goldwater ran for president and he lost. Mo Udall ran for president. He lost. Bruce Babbitt ran for president. And he lost. Speaking for myself, and for at least this coming election, this is one Arizona tradition I’d like to see continue!

Now, just as I am proud of Arizona, I like to be positive about my fellow Arizonans. So I wanted to say something positive about Senator McCain. When I heard him say the economy is not an issue he understands as well as he should, my problem was solved. Because I can say to you tonight, positively, that John McCain is right. He doesn’t understand the economy as well as he should. And he doesn’t understand how the policies he has supported and wants to perpetuate have so terribly misfired.

We cannot afford four more years of failing economics and a falling economy. For the change we need to lift working families across our nation, for the change we need to ensure the American dream is within reach of all of us, we must send Barack Obama to the White House.

As chair of the Platform Drafting Committee, I’ve listened to Americans tell me just how badly the Bush-McCain economic policies have failed, how deeply concerned they are about the future, and how high the stakes are for this election.

For example, I heard from Marcie Wozniak of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, a mother of four, who has worked in a print shop for 22 years. Marcie’s money stretches only far enough for gas and groceries. She wants better for her four sons, but one of them had to drop out of college because she makes too much to qualify for financial aid.

Our children can’t afford more of the same. I heard from David Landrum of Indiana who has worked for the same refrigerator plant for the past 24 years. Now, the plant is closing and he risks losing his entire pension less than a year before retirement.

Our seniors can’t afford more of the same. Arizona is one of the states hit hardest by the housing crisis. Alfred Smith Jr. of Phoenix is a married father of three who earns a decent living. For the first time, he’s worrying about how he’ll make his mortgage payment.

Our working families can’t afford more of the same. I am positive that John McCain, as he said in his own words, doesn’t understand as well as he should how to help Marcie, David and Alfred.

But I am equally positive that Barack Obama does. His plan will help Marcie Wozniak, David Landrum, Alfred Smith and people like them. Barack Obama knows we need to move now to put money back in people’s pockets. He’ll work to provide a tax rebate for middle-income taxpayers, while totally exempting lower-income seniors from paying income tax. His economic policies will create a foreclosure prevention fund and stimulate the housing industry, and the jobs that go with it, by reforming the credit markets and policing their activities.

Long term, Senator Obama knows our economy depends on well-educated workers. He will focus on giving our youngest children a critical head start in their education. He’ll open doors to higher education by giving $4,000 tax credits to students promising to give back through community service. In Barack Obama’s world, work and reward go together. And every American should have the opportunity to make the most of his or her talents.

Senator Obama understands that America’s continued dominance in the world economy depends on our continued ability to innovate. He will invest in a clean energy economy, diminishing our reliance on foreign oil and creating 5 million green-collar jobs. He’ll encourage job training and retraining for newer, clean technologies, and he’ll work for tax relief for small business and start-up companies.

John McCain’s good friend Phil Gramm says we’re in a “mental recession,” and that middle-class folks worried about their futures are just “whiners.” Barack Obama knows that pursuing the failed policies of the past is no way to build America’s future. He understands that no one is whining and, instead, that real people are looking for real and better answers. We must work together—all of us here on this convention floor, all of us watching on television or on the web—to bring the change we need and to fix the failed ways of Washington. And we’ll do that by electing Barack Obama the next President of the United States.

Thank you.

Jim Whitaker

Tue, 26 Aug 2008 14:12:41 -0400

Good evening! We are Americans first, not Democrats, not Republicans. I stand before you as a father, a husband, a mayor, an Alaskan, a registered Republican—but first and foremost, as an American.

I am not here to speak against Senator McCain. I am here to endorse Barack Obama for the presidency of the United States of America because I am an American first. And as Americans, each of us has one precious vote—and a responsibility to cast that vote for the candidate we believe will best meet America’s challenges and seize America’s opportunities.

I will be casting mine for the candidate who possesses a keen intellect, a pragmatic idealism and a resulting wisdom which is sorely needed in America today. I will be casting my vote for Barack Obama.

We, Americans, must have a foreign policy based on strength, logic and sound judgment. We will get that from Barack Obama.

We, Americans, must have economic policies based on what’s best for hard working families—not lobbyists, or special interests, or just the very wealthy—but for the vast majority of our people. We will get that from Barack Obama.

We, Americans, must have an energy policy which leads us to energy independence and stability. We will get that from Barack Obama.

This cornerstone of our economic security and national security cannot be left to shifts in the market or the whims of hostile dictators. America’s energy policy must be based on self reliance and the resources we have right here at home: from domestically produced natural gas, including liquefied natural gas from Alaska, to biomass, wind and solar—renewable, alternative energy sources, American energy sources.

In the end, I’m here tonight because I know the change we need requires a leader with a steely resolve, a powerful vision for our future and a passion for helping working people. The man you will nominate tomorrow is that leader−America’s next great president, Barack Obama.

Gloria Craven

Tue, 26 Aug 2008 14:28:57 -0400

Hello, everyone. My name is Gloria Craven. I live in Eden, North Carolina.

My story is not much different than a lot of other people in this country. I lived in a town built on textiles. Growing up, most of us didn’t have much use for schools, because we didn’t think a diploma meant that much. The important thing was taking care of your family. A lot of people in our area chose work over school.

I worked at the same place—for a company called Pillowtex—for 30 years. In 2003, the plant shut down for a week. The next week, when we were supposed to report back to work, we were told not to come in. A few weeks later, we were told the plant had closed. More than 8,000 people lost their jobs in one day. And that was it, after 30 years: no notice, no “thank you.” For the job he did, our CEO got a bonus of $300,000. Our union, UNITE-HERE, fought for several years to get back our vacation pay.

Overnight, my family and community totally changed. George Bush told us that we should all just go to college. But 65 percent of the people in the mill could barely read or write. We weren’t in a position to go to college, and we couldn’t afford it anyway.

My husband, Jacob, lost his job, too. Now, we live on his Social Security. I used to think I was middle class, but now we are living at the poverty level. I tell my husband how proud I am because even at his age, he’s going back to school. But for a 62-year-old man, who spent his life in the mills, there aren’t many opportunities.

I used trade adjustment assistance to go back to school myself and graduated in 2006. But I had some medical problems. Turns out walking on a concrete floor for 30 years was bad for my health. My husband and I worked hard all our lives. Now, we’re struggling to get by without health insurance and just a little retirement money.

There used to be a time in America when you felt like there were people in government who were looking out for people like me. But not the last eight years. I know I can’t stand another four years of George W. Bush.

But John McCain will be no different. When he said a few months ago that we’ve made great progress economically, it made me wonder: who does he mean by “we?” And then, I read he owns seven houses, and it was clear that “we” didn’t include “me.”

But Barack Obama has made me believe again. I get the feeling he cares about people like me and will create an America where things like hard work and loyalty mean something again.

My hope is that he’ll bring the change so many of us need.

I can’t wait to see Barack Obama in the White House.

Nancy Floyd

Tue, 26 Aug 2008 14:21:02 -0400

Good evening! Ever since I graduated college, I’ve worked in one way or another on renewable energy, trying to find cleaner, cheaper ways to power everything from our cars to our homes to our entire economy. I’ve worn a tool belt, put on rattlesnake guards, gotten my hands dirty, while I literally helped build some of the very first wind farms in the country. And now my partners and I at Nth power work with energy entrepreneurs, helping to bring their ideas to market.

I graduated college 32 years ago when the entire nation was focused on “the energy crisis.” Three decades have passed, and where are we now? The costs of filling up our tanks or cooling our homes are going through the roof. Our climate is warming. And our reliance on foreign oil has never been greater. Here we are again back in yet another energy crisis.

I can tell you that there are thousands of entrepreneurs, from Portland, Oregon to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, with new solutions. Investors are lining up to back them. What’s missing is leadership from Washington. We can’t afford another 30 years of partisanship and inaction. We need new thinking and new leadership. We need Barack Obama as president of the United States.

What’s at stake is not just our national security. Not just the future of our planet. What’s at stake is whether or not the United States will lead the creation of an industry of historic proportions that will create millions of new, high-paying jobs.

Let me put it this way. Green technology is where the computer industry was in 1984, the year the Macintosh computer was introduced. Think about how far we’ve come since then. That’s how far-reaching and how transformational green technology will be. Thousands of new companies. Millions of new jobs. In fact, investments in wind and solar technologies have already created 2.4 million jobs.

That’s the good news. The bad news is that less than 10 percent of them are here in the United States. That’s because other countries have smart, stable, forward-looking energy policies. So American companies that are working on wind, solar and the next generation of biofuels are selling, and now manufacturing, their products in places like Germany, Spain and China. That’s lost jobs here at home. And the loss of one of the biggest economic opportunities to ever come our way.

It’s time for a change. Barack Obama has a comprehensive energy plan that will get us off of foreign oil, stop global warming, and create millions of new jobs in the United States. I’ve read it, and you should read it too at www.barack.obama.com. And what you will see is that Barack Obama is not proposing the same old, tired answers. He’s offering the change we so urgently need.

He will cut taxes for families who buy fuel-efficient cars and trucks, and make sure that those cars are being built by American autoworkers. He will make an unprecedented investment in green technologies, and that will create 5 million new jobs over the next decade.

I know, to some, it may sound a little pie-in-the-sky. But I’m sure a lot of people said that about the home computer and the internet. The truth is: America can do it. With the right leadership, we can seize this moment. And with Barack Obama as president, we can set our economy on a course for growth and widespread prosperity.

Thank you.