My name is Jimmy Carter, and I'm not running for president. But here's what I will be doing: everything I can to put John Kerry in the White House with John Edwards right there beside him.



Twenty-eight years ago I was running for president, and I said then, "I want a government as good and as honest and as decent and as competent and as compassionate as are the American people." I say this again tonight, and that is exactly what we will have next January with John Kerry as president of the United States.



As many of you know, my first chosen career was in the United States Navy, where I served as a submarine officer. At that time, my shipmates and I were ready for combat and prepared to give our lives to defend our nation and its principles.



At the same time, we always prayed that our readiness would preserve the peace. I served under two presidents, Harry Truman and Dwight Eisenhower, men who represented different political parties. Both of whom had faced their active military responsibilities with honor.



They knew the horrors of war, and later, as commanders-in-chief, they exercised restraint and judgment and had a clear sense of mission. We had confidence that our leaders, military and civilian, would not put our soldiers and sailors in harm's way by initiating "wars of choice" unless America's vital interests were endangered.



We also were sure that these presidents would not mislead us when it came to issues involving our nation's security. Today, our Democratic party is led by another former naval officer -- one who volunteered for military service. He showed up when assigned to duty, and he served with honor and distinction.



He also knows the horrors of war and the responsibilities of leadership, and I am confident that next January he will restore the judgment and maturity to our government that is sorely lacking today. I am proud to call Lieutenant John Kerry my shipmate, and I am ready to follow him to victory in November.



As you know, our country faces many challenges at home involving energy, taxation, the environment, education, and health. To meet these challenges, we need new leaders in Washington whose policies are shaped by working American families instead of the super-rich and their armies of lobbyists. But the biggest reason to make John Kerry president is even more important. It is to safeguard the security of our nation.



Today, our dominant international challenge is to restore the greatness of America -- based on telling the truth, a commitment to peace, and respect for civil liberties at home and basic human rights around the world. Truth is the foundation of our global leadership, but our credibility has been shattered and we are left increasingly isolated and vulnerable in a hostile world. Without truth -- without trust -- America cannot flourish. Trust is at the very heart of our democracy, the sacred covenant between the president and the people.



When that trust is violated, the bonds that hold our republic together begin to weaken. After 9/11, America stood proud, wounded but determined and united. A cowardly attack on innocent civilians brought us an unprecedented level of cooperation and understanding around the world. But in just 34 months, we have watched with deep concern as all this goodwill has been squandered by a virtually unbroken series of mistakes and miscalculations. Unilateral acts and demands have isolated the United States from the very nations we need to join us in combating terrorism.



Let us not forget that the Soviets lost the Cold War because the American people combined the exercise of power with adherence to basic principles, based on sustained bipartisan support. We understood the positive link between the defense of our own freedom and the promotion of human rights. Recent policies have cost our nation its reputation as the world's most admired champion of freedom and justice. What a difference these few months of extremism have made!



The United States has alienated its allies, dismayed its friends, and inadvertently gratified its enemies by proclaiming a confused and disturbing strategy of "preemptive" war. With our allies disunited, the world resenting us, and the Middle East ablaze, we need John Kerry to restore life to the global war against terrorism.



In the meantime, the Middle East peace process has come to a screeching halt for the first time since Israel became a nation. All former presidents, Democratic and Republican, have attempted to secure a comprehensive peace for Israel with hope and justice for the Palestinians. The achievements of Camp David a quarter century ago and the more recent progress made by President Bill Clinton are now in peril.



Instead, violence has gripped the Holy Land, with the region increasingly swept by anti-American passions. Elsewhere, North Korea's nuclear menace -- a threat far more real and immediate than any posed by Saddam Hussein -- has been allowed to advance unheeded, with potentially ominous consequences for peace and stability in Northeast Asia. These are some of the prices of our government's radical departure from the basic American principles and values espoused by John Kerry!



In repudiating extremism we need to recommit ourselves to a few common- sense principles that should transcend partisan differences. First, we cannot enhance our own security if we place in jeopardy what is most precious to us, namely, the centrality of human rights in our daily lives and in global affairs. Second, we cannot maintain our historic self-confidence as a people if we generate public panic. Third, we cannot do our duty as citizens and patriots if we pursue an agenda that polarizes and divides our country. Next, we cannot be true to ourselves if we mistreat others. And finally, in the world at large we cannot lead if our leaders mislead.



You can't be a war president one day and claim to be a peace president the next, depending on the latest political polls. When our national security requires military action, John Kerry has already proven in Vietnam that he will not hesitate to act. And as a proven defender of our national security, John Kerry will strengthen the global alliance against terrorism while avoiding unnecessary wars.



Ultimately, the issue is whether America will provide global leadership that springs from the unity and integrity of the American people or whether extremist doctrines and the manipulation of truth will define America's role in the world.



At stake is nothing less than our nation's soul. In a few months, I will, God willing, enter my 81st year of my life, and in many ways the last few months have been some of the most disturbing of all. But I am not discouraged. I do not despair for our country. I believe tonight, as I always have, that the essential decency, compassion and common sense of the American people will prevail.



And so I say to you and to others around the world, whether they wish us well or ill: do not underestimate us Americans. We lack neither strength nor wisdom. There is a road that leads to a bright and hopeful future. What America needs is leadership. Our job, my fellow Americans, is to ensure that the leaders of this great country will be John Kerry and John Edwards. Thank you and God bless America!

Ladies and gentlemen, I am honored to be here with you.







I am honored to share this podium with my senator, Hillary Rodham Clinton. And I want to thank the people of New York for giving the best public servant in my family a chance to continue serving the public. Thank you.



I am also -- I'm going to say that again, in case you didn't hear it.











I'm honored to be here tonight. And I want to thank the people of New York for giving Hillary the chance to continue to serve in public life.







I am very proud of her. And we are both very grateful to all of you, especially my good friends from Arkansas, for giving me the chance to serve in the White House for eight years.







I am honored to share this night with President Carter, for whom I worked in 1976 and who has inspired the world with his work for peace, democracy and human rights.







I am honored to share it with Al Gore, my friend and my partner for eight years, who played such a large role in building the prosperity and peace that we left America in 2000.



And Al Gore, as he showed again tonight, demonstrated incredible patriotism and grace under pressure. He is the living embodiment of the principle that every vote counts.



And this year, we're going to make sure they're all counted in every state in America.







My friends, after three conventions as a candidate or a president, tonight I come to you as a citizen, returning to the role that I have played for most of my life, as a foot soldier in our fight for the future, as we nominate in Boston a true New England Patriot for president.







Now this state, who gave us in other times of challenge John Adams and John Kennedy, has given us John Kerry, a good man, a great senator, a visionary leader. And we are all here to do what we can to make him the next president of the United States.







My friends, we are constantly being told that America is deeply divided. But all Americans value freedom and faith and family. We all honor the service and sacrifice of our men and women in uniform, in Iraq, Afghanistan and throughout the world.







We all want good jobs, good schools, health care, safe streets, a clean environment.



We all want our children to grow up in a secure America leading the world toward a peaceful and prosperous future.



Our differences are in how we can best achieve these things in a time of unprecedented change. Therefore, we Democrats will bring to the American people this year a positive campaign, arguing not who is a good or a bad person, but what is the best way to build a safe and prosperous world our children deserve.







The 21st century is marked by serious security threats, serious economic challenges and serious problems, from AIDS to global warming to the continuing turmoil in the Middle East.



But it is also full of amazing opportunities to create millions of new jobs and clean energy and biotechnology, to restore our manufacturing base and reap the benefits of the global economy, through our diversity and our commitment to decent labor and environmental standards for people all across the world...







... and to create a world where we can celebrate our religious, our racial, our ethnic, our tribal differences because our common humanity matters most of all.







To build that kind of world, we must make the right choices. And we must have a president who will lead the way. Democrats and Republicans have very different and deeply felt ideas about what choices we should make. They're rooted in fundamentally different views of how we should meet our common challenges at home, and how we should play our role in the world.



We Democrats want to build a world and an America of shared responsibilities and shared benefits. We want a world with more global cooperation where we act alone only when we absolutely have to.



We think the role of government...







... should be to give people the tools to create the conditions to make the most of their own lives. And we think everybody should have that chance.



On the other hand, the Republicans in Washington believe that American should be run by the right people -- their people -- in a world in which America acts unilaterally when we can and cooperates when we have to.



They believe the role of government is to concentrate wealth and power in the hands of those who embrace their economic, political and social views, leaving ordinary citizens to fend for themselves on important matters like health care and retirement security.



Now, since most Americans aren't that far to the right, our friends have to portray us Democrats as simply unacceptable, lacking in strength and values. In other words, they need a divided America.



But we don't.







Americans long to be united. After 9/11, we all just wanted to be one nation. Not a single American on September the 12th, 2001, cared who won the next presidential election.



All we wanted to do was to be one country, strong in the fight against terror, helping to heal those who were wounded and the families of those who lost their loved ones, reaching out to the rest of the world so we could meet these new challenges and go on with our democratic way of life.



The president had an amazing opportunity to bring the country together under his slogan of compassionate conservatism and to unite the world in the struggle against terror.



Instead, he and his congressional allies made a very different choice. They chose to use that moment of unity to try to push the country too far to the right and to walk away from our allies, not only in attacking Iraq before the weapons inspectors had finished their work, but in withdrawing American support for the climate change treaty and for the international court on war criminals and for the anti-ballistic missile treaty and from the nuclear test ban treaty.







Now, now at a time when we're trying to get other people to give up nuclear and biological and chemical weapons, they are trying to develop two new nuclear weapons which they say we might use first.



At home, the president and the Republican Congress have made equally fateful choices, which they also deeply believe in.



For the first time when America was in a war footing in our whole history, they gave two huge tax cuts, nearly half of which went to the top 1 percent of us.



Now, I'm in that group for the first time in my life.







And you might remember that when I was in office, on occasion, the Republicans were kind of mean to me.







But as soon as I got out and made money, I became part of the most important group in the world to them. It was amazing. I never thought I'd be so well cared for by the president and the Republicans in Congress.







I almost sent them a thank you note for my tax cuts until I realized that the rest of you were paying the bill for it. And then I thought better of it.







Now look at the choices they made, choices they believed in. They chose to protect my tax cut at all costs while withholding promised funding to the Leave No Child Behind Act, leaving 2.1 million children behind.







They chose to protect my tax cut, while cutting 140,000 unemployed workers out of their job training programs, 100,000 working families out of their child care assistance, and worst of all, while cutting 300,000 poor children out of their after-school programs when we know it keeps them off the streets, out of trouble, in school, learning, going to college and having a good life.







They chose -- they chose to protect my tax cuts while dramatically raising the out-of-pocket costs of health care to our veterans and while weakening or reversing very important environmental measures that Al Gore and I put into place, everything from clean air to the protection of our forests.



Now, in this time, everyone in America had to sacrifice except the wealthiest Americans. And most of us, almost all of us, from Republicans to independents and Democrats, we wanted to be asked to do our part, too. But all they asked us to do was to expend the energy necessary to open the envelopes containing our tax cuts.



Now, if you like these choices and you agree with them, you should vote to return them to the White House and the Congress. If not, take a look at John Kerry, John Edwards and the Democrats. We've got a different economic policy.







In this year's budget...







In this year's budget, the White House this year wants to cut off all the federal funding for 88,000 uniformed police officers under the COPS program we've had for 10 years. Among those 88,000 police are more than 700 members adly assault weapons to lapse.



Now, they believe it's the right thing to do. But our policy was to put more police on the street and to take assault weapons off the street. And it gave you eight years of declining crime and eight years of declining violence.







Their policy is the reverse. They're taking police off the streets while they put assault weapons back on the street.



Now, if you agree with that choice, by all means, vote to keep them in office. But if you don't, join John Kerry, John Edwards and the Democrats in making America safer, smarter and stronger again.







On homeland security, Democrats tried to double the number of containers at ports and airports checked for weapons of mass destruction. It cost $1 billion. It would have been paid for under our bill by asking the 200,000 millionaires in America to cut their tax cut by $5,000. Almost all 200,000 of us would like to have done that, to spend $5,000 to make all 300 million Americans safer.



The measure failed. Why? Because the White House and the Republican leadership in the House of Representatives opposed it. They thought our $5,000 was more important than doubling the container checks at our ports and airports.



If you agree with that, by all means, re-elect them. If not, John Kerry and John Edwards are your team for the future.







These policies have turned a projected $5.8 trillion surplus that we left, enough to pay for the baby boomer retirement, into a projected debt of almost $5 trillion, with over $400 billion in deficit this year and for years to come.



Now, how do they pay for that deficit? First, by taking the Social Security surplus that comes in every month and endorsing the checks of working people over to me to pay for the tax cuts. But it's not enough.



So then they have to go borrow money. Most of it they borrow from the Chinese and the Japanese government.



Sure, these countries are competing with us for good jobs, but how can we enforce our trade laws against our bankers? I mean, come on.











So if you think -- if you believe it is good policy -- if you believe it is good policy to pay for my tax cuts with the Social Security checks of working men and women and borrowed money from China and Japan, you should vote for them. If not, John Kerry's your man.







We Americans must choose for president...







... we've got to choose for president between two strong men who both love their countries, but who have very different world views: our nominee, John Kerry, who favors shared responsibility, shared opportunity and more global cooperation; and their president and their party in Congress who favor concentrated wealth and power, leaving people to fend for themselves and more unilateral action.



I think we're right for two reasons.



First of all, America just works better when more people have a chance to live their dreams.







And, secondly, we live in an interdependent world in which we cannot possibly kill, jail or occupy all of our potential adversaries. So we have to both fight terror and build a world with more partners and fewer terrorists.







Now, we tried it their way for 12 years. We tried it their way for 12 years. We tried it our way for eight years. Then we tried it their way for four more. But the only test that matters is whether people were better off when we finished than when we started. Our way works better.







It produced over 22 million good jobs, rising incomes for the middle class, over 100 times as many people moved from poverty into the middle class, more health care, the largest increase in college aid in 50 years, record home ownership, a cleaner environment, three surpluses in a row, a modernized defense force, strong efforts against terror and a respected America in the world.







More importantly, more importantly we have great new champions in John Kerry and John Edwards, two good men, with wonderful wives: Teresa, a generous and wise woman, who understands the world we're trying to shape; and Elizabeth, a lawyer and mother, who understands the lives we're trying to live.



Now, let me tell you know what I know about John Kerry. I've been seeing all of the Republican ads about him. Let me tell you what I know about him.



During the Vietnam War, many young men, including the current president, the vice president and me, could have gone to Vietnam and didn't. John Kerry came from a privileged background. He could have avoided going too, but instead, he said: Send me.







When they sent those swiftboats up the river in Vietnam and they told them their job was to draw hostile fire, to wave the American flag and bate the enemy to come out and fight, John Kerry said: Send me.







And then, on my watch, when it was time to heal the wounds of war and normalize relations with Vietnam and to demand an accounting of the POWs and MIAs we lost there, John Kerry said: Send me.







Then when we needed someone to push the cause of inner-city children struggling to avoid a life of crime or to bring the benefits of high technology to ordinary Americans or to clean the environment in a way that created new jobs, or to give small businesses a better chance to make it, John Kerry said: Send me.







So tonight, my friends, I ask you to join me for the next 100 days in telling John Kerry's story and promoting his ideas. Let every person in this hall and like-minded people all across our land say to him what he has always said to America: Send me.







The bravery that men who fought by his side in battle, that bravery they saw in battle, I have seen in politics. When I was president, John Kerry showed courage and conviction on crime, on welfare reform, on balancing the budget, at a time when those priorities were not exactly the way to win a popularity contest in our party.



John Kerry took tough positions on tough problems. He knows who he is and where he's going. He has the experience, the character, the ideas, the values to be a great president.



And in a time of change, he has two other very important qualities: an insatiable curiosity to understand the world around him, and a willingness to hear other views, even those who disagree with him.







Therefore...







Therefore, John Kerry will make choices that reflect both conviction and common sense. He proved that when he picked John Edwards to be his partner.







Now, everybody talks about John Edwards' energy and intellect and charisma. You know, I kind of resent him.







But the important thing is not what talents he has, but how he has used them. He chose -- he chose to use his talents to improve the lives of people like him who had to work for everything they've got and to help people too often left out and left behind. And that's what he'll do as our vice president.







Now their opponents will tell you...







Their opponents will tell you we should be afraid of John Kerry and John Edwards, because they won't stand up to the terrorists. Don't you believe it. Strength and wisdom are not opposing values.







They go hand in hand.







They go hand in hand, and John Kerry has both. His first priority will be to keep America safe.



Remember the scripture: "Be not afraid."



John Kerry and John Edwards are good people with good ideas, ideas to make the economy work again for middle-class Americans, to restore fiscal responsibility, to save Social Security, to make health care more affordable, college more available, to free us from dependence on foreign oil and create new jobs with clean energy and a cleaner environment...







... to rally the world to our side in the war against terror and to make a world with more friends and less terror.







My friends, at every turning point in our history, we, the people, have chosen unity over division, heeding our founders' call to America's eternal mission to form a more perfect union, to widen the circle of opportunity deep in the reach of freedom and strengthen the bonds of our community.



It happened every time, because we made the right choices.



In the early days of the republic, America was divided and at a crossroads, much as it is today, deeply divided over whether or not to build a real nation with a national economy and a national legal system. We chose to build a more perfect union.



In the Civil War, America was at another crossroads, deeply divided over whether to save the union and end slavery. We chose a more perfect union.



In the 1960s, when I was a young man, we were divided again over civil rights and women's rights. And again we chose to form a more perfect union.



As I said in 1992, I say again tonight, we are all in this together. We have an obligation, both to work hard and to help our fellow citizens, an obligation both to fight terror and to build a world with more cooperation and less terror.



Now, again, it is time to choose. Since we're all in the same boat, we should choose a captain of our ship who is a brave good man, who knows how to steer a vessel through troubled waters, to the calm seas and the clear sides of our more perfect union. That is our mission.



So let us go in tonight and say to America in a loud, clear voice: Send John Kerry.



God bless you.





I was hoping for a reception like this. I was just hoping that it would be

on Thursday night, instead of on Tuesday night.

I may not be the nominee, but I can tell you this: For the next hundred

days, I'll be doing everything I can to make sure that John Kerry and John

Edwards take our country back for the people who built it. Because tonight,

we're all here to represent the Democratic wing of the Democratic party.

I'm proud of John Kerry's leadership, and I intend to stand shoulder to

shoulder with him as we fight for the things Harry Truman promised in 1948:

health insurance for every American, a real jobs plan to create jobs instead

of destroy them. Standing up for middle class and working Americans who got a

tax increase, not a tax cut. And a foreign policy that relies on telling the

truth to the American people before we send our brave American soldiers to

fight in foreign lands. I'd like a commander-in-chief who supports our

soldiers and our veterans, instead of cutting their hardship pay when they're

abroad, and their health benefits when they get home.

I'm Howard Dean. And I'm voting for John Kerry.

I'm voting for John Kerry and John Edwards because I'm tired of seeing

hard-working Americans struggling with jobs that pay less than they did four

years ago. I'm voting for John Kerry and John Edwards because I want a

president and vice president as good and as strong as the American people. And

I'm voting for John Kerry and John Edwards because I want to see America

restored as the moral leader of the world.

America's greatness rests on far more than the power of our arms. Our

greatness is also measured by our goodness. It is in the capacity of our

minds, the size of our hearts, and the strength of our democracy.

As I've traveled America, I've seen that strength. I've seen it in the

people I've met and their desire to take our country back for the American

people. I saw it in a college student in Pennsylvania who sold her bicycle and

sent us a check for $100 with a note that said, "I sold my bicycle for

democracy." I saw it in a woman from Iowa who handed me $50-all in quarters.

She saved it from her monthly disability check, because she wanted to make

America well again. And I saw it in the 19-year-old from Alabama who had never

been involved in politics before he got in his car and drove up to Vermont,

because he didn't feel like he was being heard in Washington.

He was just one of so many. They learned that politics was too important

to be left to the politicians. They didn't just pack their bags-they backed

their hopes that we can take our country back. And you know what? We will.

We're not going to be afraid to stand up for what we believe. We're not

going to let those who disagree with us shout us down under a banner of false

patriotism. And we're not going to give up a single voter, or a single state.

We're going to be proud to call ourselves Democrats, not just here in Boston.

We're going to be proud to call ourselves Democrats in Mississippi, proud to

call ourselves Democrats in Utah and Idaho. And we're going to be proud to

call ourselves Democrats in Texas.

Never again will we be ashamed to call ourselves Democrats. Never. Never.

Never. We're not just going to change presidents, we're going to change this

country and reclaim the American dream.

To everyone who supported me -- you've given me so much, and I can't thank

you enough. But this was never about me. It was about us. It was about giving

new life to our party, new energy to our democracy, and providing hope again

for the greatest nation on earth.

And so, today, even though you have already given so much-I want to ask

you to give one more thing: Give America President John Kerry. Together, we

can take our country back. And only you have the power to make it happen.


    Thank you. Now, you know why Elizabeth is so amazing.



    I am a lucky man: to have the love of my life at my side. We have
    been blessed with four beautiful children: Wade, Cate, Emma Claire,
    and Jack.



    My mother and father, Wallace and Bobbie Edwards are here tonight.
    You taught me the values that I carry with me in my heart: faith,
    family, responsibility, and opportunity for everyone. You taught me
    that there?s dignity and honor in a hard days work. You taught me
    that you look out for your neighbors, you never look down on
    anybody, and you treat everyone with respect.



    Those are the values John Kerry and I believe in, and nothing makes
    me prouder than standing with him in this campaign. I am so humbled
    to be your candidate for Vice President of the United States.



    I want to talk about our next president. For those who want to know
    what kind of leader he?ll be, I want to take you back about thirty
    years. When John Kerry graduated college, he volunteered for
    military service. He volunteered to go to Vietnam and to captain a
    swift boat, one of the most dangerous duties you could have. And as
    a result he was wounded and honored for his valor.



    If you have any question about what he?s made of, you need to spend
    three minutes with the men who served with him then and stand by him
    today.



    They saw up close what he?s made of. They saw him reach down and
    pull one of his men from the river and save his life. And in the
    heat of battle, they saw him decide in an instant to turn his boat
    around, drive it straight through an enemy position, and chase down
    the enemy to save his crew.



    Decisive. Strong. Aren?t these the traits you want in a Commander in
    Chief?



    We hear a lot of talk about values. Where I come from, you don?t
    judge someone?s values based on how they use that word in a
    political ad. You judge their values based upon what they?ve spent
    their life doing.



    So when a man volunteers to serve his country, and puts his life on
    the line for others?that?s a man who represents real American values.



    This is a man who is prepared to keep the American people safe and
    to make America stronger at home and respected in the world.



    John is a man who knows the difference between what is right and
    what is wrong. He wants to serve you?your cause is his cause. And
    that is why we must and we will elect John Kerry as our next president.



    For the last few months, John has been talking about his positive,
    optimistic vision for the country?talking about his plan to move
    this country in the right direction.



    But we?ve seen relentless negative attacks against John. So in the
    weeks ahead, we know what?s coming?don?t we?more negative attacks.



    Aren?t you sick of it?



    They are doing all they can to take this campaign for the highest
    office in the land down the lowest possible road.



    This is whe you come in. Between now and November?you, the American
    people?you can reject the tired, old, hateful, negative, politics of
    the past. And instead you can embrace the politics of hope, the
    politics of what?s possible because this is America, where
    everything is possible.



    I am here tonight because I love my country. And I have every reason
    to love my country because I have grown up in the bright light of
    America.



    I grew up in a small town in rural North Carolina. My father worked
    in a mill all his life, and I will never forget the men and women
    who worked with him. They had lint in their hair and grease on their
    faces. They worked hard and tried to put a little something away
    every week so their kids and their grandkids could have a better
    life. They are just like the auto workers, office workers, teachers,
    and shop keepers on Main Streets all across America.



    My mother had a number of jobs. Her last job was working at the post
    office so my parents could have health care. And she owned her own
    small business?refinishing furniture to help pay for me go to college.



    I have had such incredible opportunities in my life, and I was
    blessed to be the first person in my family to go to college. I
    worked my way through, and I have had opportunities way beyond what
    I could have ever imagined.



    And the heart of this campaign?your campaign?is to make sure that
    everyone has those same opportunities that I had growing up?no
    matter where you live, who your family is, or what the color of your
    skin is. This is the America we believe in.



    I have spent my life fighting for the kind of people I grew up with.
    For two decades, I stood with families and children against big HMOs
    and big insurance companies. And as a Senator, I fought those same
    fights against the Washington lobbyists and for causes like the
    Patients? Bill of Rights.



    I stand here tonight ready to work with you and John to make America
    strong again.



    And we have so much work to do. Because the truth is, we still live
    in two different Americas: one for people who have lived the
    American Dream and don?t have to worry, and another for most
    Americans who work hard and still struggle to make ends meet.



    It doesn?t have to be that way. We can build one America



    We can build one America where we no longer have two healthcare
    systems. One for people who get the best healthcare money can buy
    and then one for everybody else, rationed out by insurance
    companies, drug companies, and HMOs?millions of Americans who don?t
    have any health insurance at all.



    It doesn?t have to be that way.



    We have a plan that will offer everyone the same health care your
    Senator has. We can give tax breaks to help pay for your health
    care. And we will sign into law a real Patients? Bill of Rights so
    you can make your own health care decisions.



    We shouldn't have two public school systems in this country: one for
    the most affluent communities, and one for everybody else.



    None of us believe that the quality of a child?s education should be
    controlled by where they live or the affluence of their community.



    It doesn?t have to be that way.



    We can build one public school system that works for all our
    children. Our plan will reform our schools and raise our standards.
    We can give our schools the resources they need. We can provide
    incentives to put quality teachers in the places and the subjects
    where we need them the most. And we can ensure that three million
    kids with a safe place to go after school. This is what we can do
    together.



    We shouldn't have two different economies in America: one for people
    who are set for life, their kids and grandkids will be just fine,
    and then one for most Americans who live paycheck to paycheck.



    And you know what I?m saying. You don?t need me to explain it to
    you, you know?you can?t save any money, can you? Takes every dime
    you make just to pay your bills, and you know what happens if
    something goes wrong?a child gets sick, somebody gets laid off, or
    there?s a financial problem, you go right off the cliff.



    And what?s the first thing to go. Your dreams.



    It doesn?t have to be that way.



    We can strengthen and lift up your families. Your agenda is our
    agenda?so let me give you some specifics.



    First, we can create good paying jobs in America again. Our plan
    will stop giving tax breaks to companies that outsource your jobs.
    Instead, we will give tax breaks to American companies that keep
    jobs here in America. And we will invest in the jobs of the
    future?in the technologies and innovation to ensure that America
    stays ahead of the competition.



    We will do this because for us a job is about more than a
    paycheck?it?s about dignity and self respect. Hard work should be
    valued in this country and we?re going to reward work, not just wealth.



    We don?t want people to just get by; we want people to get ahead. So
    let me give you some specifics about how we?re going to do that.



    To help you pay for health care, a tax break and health care reform
    to lower your premiums up to $1,000. To help you cover the rising
    costs of child care, a tax credit up to $1,000 to cover those costs
    so your kids have a safe place to go while you work. And to help
    your child have the same chance I had and be the first person in
    your family to go to college, a tax break on up to $4,000 in tuition.



    So now you ask how are we going to pay for this? Well, here?s how
    we?re going to pay for it. Let me be very clear, for 98 percent of
    Americans, you will keep your tax cut?that?s 98 percent. But we?ll
    roll back the tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans, close corporate
    loopholes, and cut government contractors and wasteful spending. We
    can move our country forward without passing the bill and the burden
    on to our children and grandchildren.



    We can also do something about 35 million Americans who live in
    poverty every day. Here's the reason we should not just talk about
    it, but do something about millions of Americans who still live in
    poverty, because it is wrong. We have a moral responsibility to lift
    those families up.



    I mean the very idea that in a country of our wealth and our
    prosperity, we have children going to bed hungry. We have children
    who don't have the clothes to keep them warm. We have millions of
    Americans who work full-time every day for minimum wage to support
    their family and still live in poverty?it?s wrong.



    These are men and women who are living up to their part of the
    bargain: working hard and taking care of their families. Those
    families are doing their part; it?s time we did ours.



    We will do that when John is in the White House. We will raise the
    minimum wage, finish the job on Welfare Reform, and bring good
    paying jobs to the places that need them. And we will say no forever
    to any American working full-time and living in poverty?not in our
    America, not in our America.



    Let me talk about why we need to build one America. I saw up close
    what having two Americas does to our country.



    From the time I was very young, I saw the ugly face of segregation
    and discrimination. I saw young African-American kids sent upstairs
    in movie theaters. I saw white only signs on restaurant doors and
    luncheon counters. I feel such an enormous responsibility when it
    comes to issues of race and equality and civil rights.



    I have heard some discussions and debates about where, and in front
    of what audiences we should talk about race, equality, and civil
    rights. Well, I have an answer to that question. Everywhere.



    This is not an African-American issue, not a Latino issue, not an
    Asian-American issue, this is an American issue. It?s about who we
    are, what our values are, what kind of country we want to live in.



    What John and I want?what we all want?is for our children and our
    grandchildren to be the first generations to grow up in an America
    that's no longer divided by race.



    We must build one America. We must be one America, strong and united
    for another very important reason?because we are at war.



    None of us will ever forget where we were on September 11th. We
    share the same terrible images: the Towers falling, the Pentagon in
    flames, and the smoldering field in Pennsylvania. And we share the
    profound sadness for the nearly three thousand lives lost.



    As a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, I know that we
    have to do more to fight terrorism and protect our country. And we
    can do that. We are approaching the third anniversary of September
    11th, and I can tell you that when we?re in office, it won?t take us
    three years to get the reforms in our intelligence we need to
    protect our country. We will do whatever it takes, for as long as it
    takes, to make sure that never happens again, not to our America.



    When John is president, we will listen to the wisdom of the
    September 11th Commission. We will build and lead strong alliances
    and safeguard and secure weapons of mass destruction. We will
    strengthen our homeland security and protect our ports, safeguard
    our chemical plants, and support our firefighters, police officers
    and EMT?s. We will always use our military might to keep the
    American people safe.



    And we will have one clear unmistakable message for al Qaida and the
    rest of these terrorists. You cannot run. You cannot hide. And we
    will destroy you.



    John understands personally about fighting in a war. And he knows
    what our brave men and women are going through in another war?the
    war in Iraq.



    The human cost and extraordinary heroism of this war, it surrounds
    us. It surrounds us in our cities and towns. And we will win this
    war because of the strength and courage of our own people.



    Some of our friends and neighbors saw their last images in Baghdad.
    Some took their last steps outside of Fallujah. And some buttoned
    their uniform for the final time before they went out to save their
    unit.



    Men and women who used to take care of themselves, they now count on
    others to see them through the day. They need their mother to tie
    their shoe. Their husband to brush their hair. And their wife?s arm
    to help them across the room.



    The stars and stripes wave for them. The word hero was made for
    them. They are the best and the bravest. They will never be left
    behind. You understand that. And they deserve a president who
    understands that on the most personal level what they have gone
    through?what they have given and what they have given up for their
    country.



    To us, the real test of patriotism is how we treat the men and women
    who put their lives on the line every day to defend our values. And
    let me tell you, the 26 million veterans in this country won?t have
    to wonder if they?ll have health care next week or next year?they
    will have it always because they took care of us and we will take
    care of them.



    But today, our great United States military is stretched thin. More
    than 140,000 are in Iraq. Nearly 20,000 are serving in Afghanistan.
    And I visited the men and women there and we?re praying for them as
    they keep working to give that country hope.



    Like all of those brave men and women, John put his life on the line
    for our country. He knows that when authority is given to the
    president, much is expected in return. That?s why we will strengthen
    and modernize our military.



    We will double our Special Forces, and invest in the new equipment
    and technologies so that our military remains the best equipped and
    best trained in the world. This will make our military stronger so
    we?re able to defeat every enemy in this new world.



    But we can?t do this alone. We have to restore our respect in the
    world to bring our allies to us and with us. It?s how we won the
    World Wars and the Cold War and it is how we will build a stable Iraq.



    With a new president who strengthens and leads our alliances, we can
    get NATO to help secure Iraq. We can ensure that Iraq?s neighbors
    like Syria and Iran, don?t stand in the way of a democratic Iraq. We
    can help Iraq?s economy by getting other countries to forgive their
    enormous debt and participate in the reconstruction. We can do this
    for the Iraqi people and our soldiers. And we will get this done right.



    A new president will bring the world to our side, and with it?a
    stable Iraq and a real chance for peace and freedom in the Middle
    East, including a safe and secure Israel. And John and I will bring
    the world together to face our most dangerous threat: the
    possibility of terrorists getting their hands on a nuclear, chemical
    or biological weapon.



    With our credibility restored, we can work with other nations to
    secure stockpiles of the worlds most dangerous weapons and safeguard
    this dangerous material. We can finish the job and secure all loose
    nukes in Russia. And we can close the loophole in the Nuclear
    Nonproliferation Treaty that allows rogue nations access to the
    tools they need to develop these weapons.



    That?s how we can address the new threats we face. That?s how we can
    keep you safe. That?s how we can restore America?s respect around
    the world.



    And together, we will ensure that the image of America?the image all
    of us love?America this great shining light, this beacon of freedom,
    democracy, and human rights that the world looks up to?that that
    beacon is always lit.



    The truth is every child, every family in America will be safer and
    more secure if you grow up in a world where America is once again
    looked up to and respected. That's the world we can create together.



    Tonight, as we celebrate in this hall, somewhere in America, a
    mother sits at the kitchen table. She can?t sleep. She?s worried
    because she can?t pay her bills. She?s working hard to pay the rent
    and feed her kids. She?s doing everything right, but she still can?t
    get ahead.



    It didn?t use to be that way in her house. Her husband was called up
    in the Guard and he?s been serving in Iraq for more than a year. She
    thought he?d be home last month, but now he?s got to stay longer.



    She thinks she?s alone. But tonight in this hall and in your
    homes?you know what? She?s got a lot of friends. We want her to know
    that we hear her. And it?s time to bring opportunity and an equal
    chance to her door.



    We?re here to make America stronger at home so she can get ahead.
    And we?re here to make America respected in the world so that we can
    bring him home and American soldiers don?t have to fight the war in
    Iraq and the war on terror alone.



    So when you return home, you might pass a mother on her way to work
    the late-shift?you tell her??hope is on the way.



    When your brother calls and says that he?s working all the time at
    the office and still can?t get ahead?you tell him??hope is on the way.



    When your parents call and tell you their medical bills are through
    the roof?you tell them?...hope is on the way.



    When your neighbor calls you and says that her daughter has worked
    hard and wants to go to college?you tell her??hope is on the way.



    When you talk to your son or daughter who is serving this country
    and protecting our freedoms in Iraq?you tell them??hope is on the way.



    And when you wake up and sit with your kids at the kitchen table,
    talking to them about the great possibilities in America, you make
    sure that they know that John and I believe at our core that
    tomorrow can be better than today.



    Like all of us, I have learned a lot of lessons in my life. Two of
    the most important are that first, there will always be heartache
    and struggle?you can?t make it go away. But the other is that people
    of good and strong will, can make a difference. One lesson is a sad
    lesson and the other?s inspiring. We are Americans and we choose to
    be inspired.



    We choose hope over despair; possibilities over problems, optimism
    over cynicism. We choose to do what?s right even when those around
    us say ?You can?t do that.? We choose to be inspired because we know
    that we can do better?because this is America where everything is
    still possible.



    What we believe?what John Kerry and I believe?is that you should
    never look down on anybody, that we should lift people up. We don't
    believe in tearing people apart. We believe in bringing people
    together. What we believe?what I believe?is that the family you're
    born into and the color of your skin in our America should never
    control your destiny.



    Join us in this cause. Let?s make America stronger at home and
    respected in the world. Let?s ensure that once again, in our one
    America?our one America?tomorrow will always be better than today.



    Thank you and God bless you.


Friends, fellow Democrats, fellow Americans.



I'll be candid with you. I had hoped to be back here this week under different circumstances, running for re-election.



But you know the old saying -- you win some, you lose some. And then there's that little-known third category.



I didn't come here tonight to talk about the past. After all, I don't want you to think I lie awake at night counting and recounting sheep.



I prefer to focus on the future because I know from my own experience that America is a land of opportunity, where every little boy and girl has a chance to grow up and win the popular vote.



In all seriousness, I am deeply grateful for the opportunity you have given me to serve America. I want to thank you as Democrats for the honor of being your nominee for president four years ago. And I want to thank the American people for the privilege of serving as vice president.



And most of all, I want to thank my family with all my heart -- my children and grandchildren, and especially my beloved partner in life, Tipper.



I love this country deeply, and even though I always look to the future with optimism and hope, I do think it is worth pausing for just a moment as we begin this year's convention, to take note of two very important lessons from four years ago.



The first lesson is this: Take it from me -- every vote counts.



In our Democracy, every vote has power. And never forget: that power is yours. Don't let anyone take it away or talk you into throwing it away.



And let's make sure that this time every vote is counted.



Let's make sure not only that the Supreme Court does not pick the next president, but also that this president is not the one who picks the next Supreme Court.



The second lesson from 2000 is this: What happens in a presidential election matters.



A lot.



The outcome profoundly affects the lives of all 293 million Americans -- and people in the rest of the world too. The choice of who is president affects your life and your family's future.



And never has this been more true than in 2004, because -- let's face it -- our country faces deep challenges.



These challenges we now confront are not Democratic or Republican challenges; they are American challenges -- that we all must overcome together.



It is in that spirit, that I sincerely ask those watching at home who supported President Bush four years ago: Did you really get what you expected from the candidate you voted for?



Is our country more united today?



Or more divided?



Has the promise of compassionate conservatism been fulfilled?



Or do those words now ring hollow?



For that matter, are the economic policies really conservative at all?



Did you expect, for example, the largest deficits in history? One after another? And the loss of more than a million jobs?



By the way, I know about the bad economy. I was the first one laid off. And while it's true that new jobs are being created, they're just not as good as the jobs people have lost. And incidentally, that's been true for me too.



Unfortunately, this is no joke for millions of Americans. And the real solutions require us to transcend partisanship.



So that's one reason why, even though we meet here as Democrats, we believe this is a time to reach beyond our party lines to Republicans as well.



I also ask tonight for the help of those who supported a third party candidate in 2000. I urge you to ask yourselves this question: Do you still believe that there was no difference between the candidates?



Are you troubled by the erosion of some of America's most basic civil liberties?



Are you worried that our environmental laws are being weakened and dismantled to allow vast increases in pollution that are contributing to a global climate crisis?



No matter how you voted in the last election, these are profound problems that all voters must take into account this November 2.



And of course, no challenge is more critical than the situation we confront in Iraq. Regardless of your opinion at the beginning of this war, isn't it now obvious that the way the war has been managed by the administration has gotten us into very serious trouble?



Wouldn't we be better off with a new president who hasn't burned his bridges to our allies, and who could rebuild respect for America in the world?



Isn't cooperation with other nations crucial to solving our dilemma in Iraq? Isn't it also critical to defeating the terrorists?



We have to be crystal clear about the threat we face from terrorism. It is deadly. It is real. It is imminent.



But in order to protect our people, shouldn't we focus on the real source of this threat: the group that attacked us and is trying to attack us again -- al Qaeda, headed by Osama Bin Laden?



Wouldn't we be safer with a President who didn't insist on confusing al Qaeda with Iraq? Doesn't that divert too much of our attention away from the principal danger?



I want to say to all Americans this evening that whether it is the threat to the global environment or the erosion of America's leadership in the world, whether it is the challenge to our economy from new competitors or the challenge to our security from new enemies, I believe that we need new leadership that is both strong and wise.



And we can have new leadership, because one of our greatest strengths as a democracy is that when we are headed in the wrong direction, we can correct our course.



When policies are clearly not working, we can change them. If our leaders make mistakes, we can hold them accountable -- even if they never admit their mistakes.



I firmly believe America needs new leadership that will make us stronger at home and respected in the world.



We are here this week to present to the nation the man who should be our new president: John Kerry.



John and I were elected to the U.S. Senate on the same day 20 years ago and I have worked closely with him for all that time. So I want to say a personal word about John Kerry the man.



He is a friend who will stand by you. His word is his bond. He has a deep patriotism that goes far beyond words. He has devoted his life to making America a better place for all of us.



He showed uncommon heroism on the battlefield in Vietnam. I watched him show that same courage on the Senate floor. He had the best record of protecting the environment against polluters of any of my colleagues -- bar none.



He never shied away from a fight, no matter how powerful the foe. He was never afraid to take on difficult and thankless issues that few others wanted to touch -- like exposing the threat of narcoterrorism and tracing the sources of terrorist financing.



He was one of the very first in our party to take on the issue of drastic deficit reduction. He has developed a tough and thoughtful plan to restore our economic strength and fiscal discipline.



To put it simply, those of us who have worked with John know that he has the courage, integrity and leadership to be a truly great President of the United States.



And he showed wisdom in his very first decision as the leader of our party -- when he picked as his running mate an inspiring fighter for middle-class families and families struggling to reach the middle class: John Edwards.



John Kerry and John Edwards are fighting for us and for all Americans, so after we nominate them here in Boston and return to our home states across this land, we have to fight for them.



Talk to your friends and neighbors, go to "JohnKerry.com," raise money, register voters and get them to the polls, volunteer your time, and above all -- make your vote count.



To those of you who felt disappointed or angry with the outcome in 2000, I want you to remember all of those feelings. But then I want you to do with them what I have done -- focus them fully and completely on putting John Kerry and John Edwards in the White House.



Fellow Democrats, when I look out and see so many friends who have meant so much to me in my own public service, my heart is full tonight. I thank you for all the love you've shown Tipper and me. You will forever be in our hearts.



There's someone else I'd like to thank, and that's the man who asked me to join him on the ticket at our convention 12 years ago, my friend -- and my partner for eight years -- President Bill Clinton.



I'll never forget that convention or that campaign -- the way we barnstormed the country, carrying a message of hope and change, believing with our whole hearts that America could be made new again.



And so it was. And with your help, and with the leadership of John Kerry and John Edwards, so it shall be again.



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

Fellow Democrats, thank you. And most especially, fellow Floridians, thank you for granting me the honor and privilege of serving you for nearly four decades. My family and I are so grateful to all of you for the wonderful adventure of public service you have made possible. Florida, you’ve made the difference for me; I know you’re going to make the difference for John Kerry and John Edwards. And this time, when the votes are counted, fellow Floridians, we are going to make a huge difference for America.



My fellow Americans, I want to tell you why I am casting my vote for John Kerry and John Edwards. The preamble to the Constitution tells us that one of the most important responsibilities of the government is to “provide for the common defense.” It has now been over one thousand days since the September 11th terrorist attacks changed our nation. One thousand days after the attack on Pearl Harbor, America had already landed on the beaches of Normandy and was rolling to victory in World War II. In that same amount of time in this new war on terror, we have not yet secured the beachhead. John Kerry and John Edwards will.



In this new century, we have seen the rise of perilous new threats. And yet we have not stopped them; we haven’t even stood up to them. John Kerry and John Edwards will. At a time when all freedom-loving people are looking for leadership to unite the world in a war against terrorism, America has not provided it. My friends, John Kerry and John Edwards will.



As Governor of Florida, I learned how little the FBI and CIA communicate with the state and local law enforcement agencies that are our first line of defense against terrorist attack. As Florida’s senator, I saw seaports where the greatest security was often little more than a chain-link fence. As a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, I have seen the places in the world where the worst biological weapons were manufactured, where nuclear materials go unprotected, and where the next generation of terrorists is being recruited. And as chairman of that committee, I investigated the September 11th attacks and saw how they should have been prevented.



From all of my service, I’ve come to this conclusion: Yes, there are real threats. But there are also real solutions.



Just last week, the September 11th commission was the latest to recommend major changes in the way we fight the war on terror. Few of these are new. Most are obvious. Sadly, over one thousand days after September 11th, none of them are in place. The ideas are there. It’s the leadership that has been missing.



We know that North Korea and Iran have nuclear aspirations, if not nuclear weapons. And yet only John Kerry and John Edwards have a plan to keep the world’s deadliest weapons from falling into the world’s most dangerous hands. We know that money is the terrorists’ lifeline, and yet it was John Kerry, long before September 11th, who had a plan to cut off the sources of terrorist funding.



We know that our bridges, tunnels, trains, buses, chemical plants, food and water supplies, are still vulnerable to attack, and yet only John Kerry and John Edwards are willing to make the investments we need to truly be safe. And we know that Iraq didn’t attack the United States on September 11th; Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda did.



And that is why John Kerry and John Edwards will not only win the peace in Iraq, but will fight the war on terror wherever it needs to be fought: the palaces of the Middle East, the banks of Europe, the ports in Florida, the firehouses of Boston. John Kerry recognizes that victory in the war on terror requires all of the resources of the United States—diplomatic, economic, intelligence, and military.



Today, “recruiting billboards” for al Qaeda are being erected on the main streets of the Middle East. We need to work with our allies and like-minded people of the Islamic world to tear down those billboards and drain the swamp of terror. Providing for the common defense is not a piece of rhetoric from a founding document – it is the most solemn responsibility we entrust to our leaders. This is a war that demands new resources and new ideas. But most of all, it is a war that demands new leadership.



And when Americans ask, “Who will provide that leadership?” I can tell you, John Kerry and John Edwards will. For our children and grandchildren, for our security, for our country, we must elect John Kerry the next president of the United States.

BOSTON, July 27 -- The following is a transcript of a speech by Teresa Heinz Kerry at the Democratic National Convention on Tuesday, July 27, 2004:



Thank you, Christopher. Your father would be proud of you and your brothers. I love you and all our family.



My name is Teresa Heinz Kerry. And by now I hope it will come as no surprise to anyone that I have something to say.



And tonight, as I have done throughout this campaign I would like to speak to you from my heart. Y a todos los Hispanos, los Latinos; a tous les Americains, Francais et Canadiens; a tutti Italiani; a toda a familia Portugesa e Brazileria; to all my continental African family living in this country, and to all new Americans: I invite you to join our conversation, and together with us work towards the noblest purpose of all: a free, good, and democratic society.



I am grateful for the opportunity to stand before you and say a few words about my husband, John Kerry, and why I firmly believe he should be the next president of the United States.



This is such a powerful moment for me. Like many other Americans, like many of you, and like even more of your parents and grandparents, I was not born in this country. As you have seen, I grew up in East Africa, in Mozambique, in a land that was then under a dictatorship. My father-a wonderful, caring man who practiced medicine for 43 years, and taught me how to understand disease and wellness-only got the right to vote for the first time when he was 71 years old. That's what happens in dictatorships.



As a young woman, I attended Witwatersrand University in Johannesburg, South Africa, which was then not segregated. But I witnessed the weight of apartheid everywhere around me. And so, with my fellow students we marched against its extension into higher education. This was the late 50's, the dawn of the civil rights marches in America. As history records, our efforts in South Africa failed and the Higher Education Apartheid Act was passed. Apartheid tightened its ugly grip, the Sharpsville riots followed, and a short while later Nelson Mandela was arrested and sent to Robin Island.



I learned something then, and I believe it still. There is a value in taking a stand whether or not anyone may be noticing and whether or not it is a risky thing to do. And if even those who are in danger can raise their lonely voices, isn't more required of all of us, in this land where liberty had her birth?



I have a very personal feeling about how special America is, and I know how precious freedom is. It is a sacred gift, sanctified by those who have lived it and those who have died defending it. My right to speak my mind, to have a voice, to be what some have called "opinionated," is a right I deeply and profoundly cherish. My only hope is that, one day soon, women-who have all earned the right to their opinions-instead of being labeled opinionated, will be called smart or well-informed, just as men are.



Tonight I want to remember my mother's warmth, generosity, wisdom, and hopefulness, and thank her for all the sacrifices she made on our behalf, like so many other mothers. This evening, I want to acknowledge and honor the women of this world, whose wise voices for much too long have been excluded and discounted. It is time for the world to hear women's voices, in full and at last.



In the past year, I have been privileged to meet with Americans all across this land. They voiced many different concerns, but one they all seemed to share was about America's role in the world-what we want this great country of ours to stand for.



To me, one of the best faces America has ever projected is the face of a Peace Corps volunteer. That face symbolizes this country: young, curious, brimming with idealism and hope-and a real honest compassion. Those young people convey an idea of America that is all about heart and creativity, generosity and confidence-a practical, can-do sense and a big, big smile. For many generations of people around the globe, that is what America has represented. A symbol of hope, a beacon brightly lit by the optimism of its people-people coming from all over the world.



Americans believed they could know all there is to know, build all there is to build, break down any barrier, tear down any wall. We sent men to the moon, and when that was not far enough, we sent Galileo to Jupiter, we sent Cassini to Saturn, and Hubble to touch the very edges of the universe at the very dawn of time. Americans showed the world what can happen when people believe in amazing possibilities.



And, that, for me, is the spirit of America-the America you and I are working for in this election. It is the America that people all across this nation want to restore-from Iowa to California, from Florida to Michigan, from Washington State to my home state of Pennsylvania. It is the America the world wants to see, shining, hopeful, and bright once again. And that is the America that my husband John Kerry wants to lead.



John believes in a bright future. He believes we can, and we will, invent the technologies, new materials, and conservation methods of the future. He believes that alternative fuels will guarantee that not only will no American boy or girl go to war because of our dependence on foreign oil, but also that our economy will forever become independent of this need. We can, and we will, create good, competitive, and sustainable jobs while still protecting the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the health of our children, because good environmental policy is good economics.



John believes that we can, and we will, give every family and every child access to affordable health care, a good education, and the tools to become self-reliant. John Kerry believes we must, and we should, recognize the immense value of the caregivers in our country-those women and men who nurture and care for children, for elderly parents, for family members in need. These are the people who build and support our most valuable assets-our families. Isn't it time we began working to give parents more opportunity to be with their children, and to afford to have a family life?



With John Kerry as president, we can, and we will, protect our nation's security without sacrificing our civil liberties. In short, John believes we can, and we must, lead in the world-as America, unique among nations, always should-by showing the face, not of our fears, but of our hopes.



John is a fighter. He earned his medals the old-fashioned way, by putting his life on the line for his country. No one will defend this nation more vigorously than he will-and he will always be first in the line of fire.



But he also knows the importance of getting it right. For him, the names of too many friends inscribed in the cold stone of the Vietnam Memorial testify to the awful toll exacted by leaders who mistake stubbornness for strength. That is why, as president, my husband will not fear disagreement or dissent. He believes that our voices-yours and mine-must be the voices of freedom. And if we do not speak, neither does she.



In America, the true patriots are those who dare speak truth to power. The truth we must speak now is that America has responsibilities that it is time for us to accept again.



With John Kerry as president, global climate change and other threats to the health of our planet will begin to be reversed. With John Kerry as president, the alliances that bind the community of nations and that truly make our country and the world a safer place, will be strengthened once more.



The Americans John and I have met in the course of this campaign all want America to provide hopeful leadership again. They want America to return to its moral bearings. It is not a moralistic America they seek, but a moral nation that understands and willingly shoulders its obligations; a moral nation that rejects thoughtless and greedy choices in favor of thoughtful and generous actions; a moral nation that leads through the power of its ideas and the power of its example. We can and we should join together to make the most of this great gift we have been given, this gift of freedom, this gift of America.



In his first inaugural, speaking to a nation on the eve of war, Abraham Lincoln said, "We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave, to every living heart and hearth- stone, all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature."



Today, the better angels of our nature are just waiting to be summoned. We only require a leader who is willing to call on them, a leader willing to draw again on the mystic chords of our national memory and remind us of all that we, as a people, everyday leaders, can do; of all that we as a nation stand for and of all the immense possibility that still lies ahead.



I think I've found just the guy. I'm married to him.



John Kerry will give us back our faith in America. He will restore our faith in ourselves and in the sense of limitless opportunity that has always been America's gift to the world.



Together we will lift everyone up. We have to. It's possible. And you know what? It's the American thing to do. Goodnight and God bless.

The following is a transcript of a speech by the Reverend Jesse Jackson, Sr. at the Democratic National Convention on Wednesday, July 28, 2004:

Tonight the pendulum swings from pain to possibilities. From hurt to hope. Darkness to light. The line of progress is unbroken:

1944: My father's generation served in the war - duty without honor.



1954: 335 years of legal race supremacy was ended. Brown versus Board of Education.



1964: Dr. King. The Public Accommodations bill. Fannie Lou Hamer knocking on the door at Atlantic City.



1984: The first Rainbow presidential campaign in San Francisco.



2004: Barak Obama symbolizes the line of progress and growth.



These movements enabled Presidents Kennedy, Johnson, Carter, and Clinton to be great.



In 1984 a generation of youth - Mayor Kilpatrick of Detroit, Congressman Harold Ford, Congressman Jackson, Junior, Congressman Lee, Congressman Meeks, Alicia Reece, and Reverend Al Sharpton, Congressman Bobby Rush, and Senator Tony Hill of Florida. Senator Paul Wellstone. Seeds sown are now bearing fruit. The pendulum swings, the morning cometh.



In the darkness of 2000, the winners lost and the losers won. Jewish voters in West Palm Beach, immigrants stopped at the polls, a million black votes cast, but not counted. Pain.



In the dark, our nation's record budget surplus turned into a $500 billion deficit. In the dark, a net loss of jobs in every state. The ignored genocide in the Sudan, and the induced coup in Haiti. And yet, as the darkness abounds, hope abounds even more. For the 44 million people without health care insurance, help is on the way. For parents too afraid to call a doctor for their children because they do not know how to pay the bills, help is on the way. For our seniors, whose Social Security is at risk and who must choose between paying their rent or paying for the soaring costs of their prescription drugs, help is on the way.



This president speaks of leaving no child behind, but leaves 2 million children behind to protect the tax cut for the top 1%. Millions of youth today cannot afford college tuition and cannot find a job. Every child in America deserves a Constitutional Right to an Equal High Quality Education. Yes: Hope cometh in the morning.



In the dark, a president chooses tax cuts for millionaires but job cuts for steel and auto workers, firefighters and police. A president who talks of homeland security but wants to let AK-47's and Uzi's back on the street.



Hope cometh in the morning for the children of Appalachia, for coal miners dying of black lung disease every six hours.



Hope cometh in the morning, for our children who were sent to war in Iraq with bad intelligence and worse leadership. Sent to fight for a foreign policy that is foreign to our values and leaves us weaker and less secure. Sent to war in Iraq where words of mass deception are more apparent than weapons of mass destruction. It's a moral disgrace, I tell you. A moral disgrace. A moral disgrace. America, we deserve better. Hope, cometh in the morning.



But a new day is dawning. A new America turning pain into power. Beyond the extreme right wing is a beautiful rainbow of all of God's children. Out of the darkness of the bushes, we see the soaring of an authentic American eagle on the horizon. Hope cometh in the morning.



When I campaigned for John Kerry's Senate campaign in 1996, he was resolved in his convictions, cool under fire. Dr. King said you measure the character of leaders in the fire of crisis. John Kerry stood in the valleys and the shadow of death in the Mekong Delta. Though wounded, he got away. A lesser man might say, "I'm lucky," and speed away. When he heard comrades had fallen, he led his men back through the Delta to save them. When courage and duty called, he said, "Send me." John Kerry had the faith and knew God had the power.



In the exalted realm of valor under fire, in this campaign of courage and faith and leadership and honor, John Kerry stands alone, a beacon of hope who will make America stronger, safer, and a more secure America, who will restore the values that make America great. John Kerry sees a new America through a door, not a key hole.



With studied intellect and keen insight, he saw talent and strength in John Edwards -- a man whose journey is the best of American folklore. He inherited little, but worked hard and earned much, embodying hope and inspiration. He dares to stand in the gap between rich and poor, black and white, urban and rural -- a vision of a new America.



The Bible speaks of the difficulties of rich young rulers getting into the Kingdom. It's because they are intoxicated by the rarified air of privilege. John Edwards understands using wallpaper for a windbreaker. Peanut butter sandwiches and Kool-Aid. The fear of winter without heat. He grew up on the edge but now stands at the middle of reconciling the breach in our nation.



John Kerry and John Edwards will reinvest in America and put America back to work. They represent hope and healing for a new America. John Kerry and John Edwards will fight for health care for all. John Kerry and John Edwards will fight for our environment and civil rights.



Hope cometh in the morning. In 96 days dark clouds roll away. Children can rejoice. Lady Liberty will be unmasked and unshackled. We can sing again: My country 'tis of thee, Sweet land of liberty, Of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died. Land of the Pilgrim's pride. From every mountainside, let freedom ring. She can sing that song again. The shackles will leave her arms. She can stretch forth in all of her splendor, free of crippling civil rights and liberties. She can proclaim again, "Give me your tired, give me your poor, your huddled masses who yearn to breathe free," come November.



Let eagles fly to Washington. It's time to bring our troops home from Iraq and send Bush home to Texas. And it's time to send John Kerry and John Edwards to the White House this November.



Keep Hope Alive.



Thank you very much. 

To my fellow delegates and my fellow Democrats, I've waited a very, very long time to say this: Welcome to my hometown. Welcome to my hometown.



To Americans everywhere, whose aspirations have been kindled anew by this campaign, we who convene here tonight in liberty's cradle, say: Welcome home.



Welcome home, for the ideals born in Boston and strengthened by centuries of service and sacrifice; ideals like freedom and equality and opportunity and fairness and common decency for all; ideals that all Americans yearn to reclaim.



And make no mistake: Come November, reclaim them we shall by making John Kerry president of the United States.



These fundamental ideals light the fire in each of us to do all we can, and then more, to see that next January, John Kerry has a nice new home at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.



It fills me with pride to have our Democratic convention in this city, this hallowed ground that gave birth to these enduring American ideals.



Like my grandfather and my brother before me, I have been privileged to serve this place where every street is history's home: the Old North Church, where lanterns signaled Paul Revere; the Old State House, where John Adams said independence was born; the Golden Steps, where waves of new immigrants entered this new land of liberty and opportunity, including all eight of my own great-grandparents from Ireland.



Here in New England, we love our history, and like all Americans, we learn from it. We breathe it deep, because it sustains us, it guides us, it inspires us.



It was no accident that Massachusetts was founded as a commonwealth, a place where authority belongs not to a single ruler, but to the people themselves, joined together for the common good.



The old system was based on inequality. Loyalty was demanded, never earned. Leaders ruled by fear, by force, by special favors for the few.



Under the old, unequal system, the quality of your connections mattered more than the content of your character. Your voices were not heard. Your concerns did not matter. Your votes did not count.



The colonists knew they could do better, just as we know we can do better today, but only if we all work together... only if we all reach out together, only if we all come together for the common good.



Now, it is for us, the patriots of this new century, to do that, to shape our own better future and make it worthy of our past, to choose a leader worthy of our country. And that leader is John Kerry.



Today, more than two centuries after the embattled farmers stood and fired the shot heard round the world, the ideals of our founders still resonate across the globe.



Young people in other lands, inspired by the liberty we cherished, linked arms and sang, "We shall overcome."



When the Berlin Wall fell, when apartheid ended in South Africa and when the courageous protest took place in Tiananmen Square, the goals of the American people are every bit as high as they were more than 200 years ago.



If America is failing to reach them today, it's not because our ideals need replacing, it's because our president needs replacing.



We bear no ill will. We bear no ill will toward our opponents.



In fact, we'd be happy to have the over for a polite little tea party.



I know just the place: right down the road in Boston Harbor.



For today, like the brave and visionary men and women before us, we are determined to change our government. I have served for many years in the Senate and have seen many elections, but there have been none -- none more urgent and more important than this one. Never before have I seen a contrast so sharp or consequences so profound as in the choice we will make for president in 2004.



So much of the progress we once achieved has been turned back. So much of the good will America once enjoyed in the world has been lost. But we are a hopeful nation, and our values and our optimism are still burning bright.



Those same values and optimism are what brought our forbearers across a harsh ocean and sustained them through many brutal winters, that inspired patriots from John Adams to John Kennedy to John Kerry... and their strong belief that America's best days are still ahead.



There's a reason why this land was called "the American experiment." If dedication to the common good were hardwired into human nature, we would never have had a need for a revolution. If each of us cared about the public interest, we wouldn't have the excesses of Enron; we wouldn't have the abuses of Halliburton.



And Vice President [Dick] Cheney would be retired to an undisclosed location.



Soon, thanks to John Kerry and John Edwards, he'll have ample time to do just that.



Our country demands a great deal from us, and we rightfully demand a great deal from our leaders. America is a compact, a bargain, a contract. It says that all of us are connected. Our fates are intertwined. Fifty states, one nation; our Constitution binds us together.



Yet in our own time, there are those who seek to divide us: one community against another; urban against rural; city against suburb. Whites against blacks; men against women; straights against gays; Americans against Americans.



In these challenging times for our country, in these fateful times for the world, America needs a genuine uniter, not a divider who only claims to be a uniter.



We have seen how they rule. They divide and try to conquer. They know the power of the people is weakened when our house is divided. They believe they can't win unless the rest of us lose. We reject that shameful view.



The Democratic Party has a different idea. We believe that all of us can win. We believe we are one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.



And when we say all, we mean all.



Today in this global age, our goal of the common good extends far beyond America's borders. As President [John] Kennedy said in 1963 in his quest for restraint in nuclear arms: "We can help make the world safe for diversity. For in the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet. We all breathe the same air. We all cherish our children's future. And we are all mortal."



Interdependence defines our world. For all our might and for all our wealth, we know we are only as strong as the bonds we share with others. The dangers of terrorism and nuclear proliferation -- our greatest challenges -- are shared by all nations.



And our greatest opportunities, from achieving lasting peace and security to building a more prosperous society to ending the ravages of disease and the despairs of poverty, can all be seized, but only if the world works together, and only if America helps to lead in the right direction.



And John Kerry has the skill, the judgment and the experience to lead us on that great journey.



The eyes of the world were on us and the hearts of the world were with us after September 11th until this administration broke that trust.



We should have honored, not ignored, the pledges that we made.



We should have strengthened, not scorned, the alliances that won two world wars and the Cold War.



Most of all, we should have honored the principle so fundamental that our nation's founders placed it in the very first sentence of the Declaration of Independence, that America must give a decent respect to the opinions of mankind. We failed top do that in Iraq.



And more than 900 of our service men and women have already paid the ultimate price. Nearly 6,000 have been wounded in this misguided war.



The administration has alienated longtime allies.



Instead of making America more secure, they have made us less so. They have made it harder to win the real war on terrorism and the war against al Qaeda.



And none of this had to happen.



How could any president have possibly squandered the enormous goodwill that flowed to America from across the world after September 11th? Most of the world still knows what we can be, what only we can be, and they want us to be that nation again. America must be a light to the world. And under John Kerry and John Edwards that's what America will be.



We need a president. We need a president who will bind up the nation's wounds. We need a president who will be a symbol of respect in a world yearning to be at peace again. We need John Kerry as our president.



Time and again in America's history we, as Democrats, have offered new hope of a stronger, fairer, more prosperous future for all our people, a society that feeds the hungry, shelters the homeless, cares for the sick, so that none must walk alone.



And when the elderly faced poverty and sickness that threaten their golden years, we created Social Security and Medicare.



And when the voices of many citizens went unheard and their lives were blighted by bigotry, we fought for equality and justice and for civil rights and voting rights and rights for women and for the cause of Americans with disabilities. We fought for those.



And when higher education was beyond the reach of veterans returning home from the war, we created the GI Bill of Rights, and we have continued ever since to make college more affordable for millions more Americans.



And when men and women needed protection in the workplace, we demanded safe conditions for their jobs. We insisted on the right to higher pay for working overtime. And we guaranteed the right to form a union.



And we pledge -- and we pledge -- and we pledge a fair minimum wage, so that no one in America who works for a living should have to live in poverty.



Only leaders who know this history and abide by the ideals that shaped it deserve to be trusted with our nation's future. Sometimes, in recent years, they have fooled us with their rhetoric, but we will not let them fool us twice.



In the White House, inscribed on a plaque above the fireplace in the State Dining Room, is a prayer, a simple but powerful prayer of John Adams, the first president to live in that great house.



It reads: "I pray heaven to bestow the best of blessings on this house and all that shall hereafter inhabit it. May none but the honest and wise ever rule under this roof."



In November, we will make those words ring true again.



All of us who know John Kerry know that he's a fitting heir to these ideals. I've known John Kerry for three decades. I've known him as a soldier, as a peacemaker, as a prosecutor, as a senator and as a friend. And in every role he has shown his strengths.



He was the right man for every tough task, and he is the right leader for this time in our history.



John is a war hero who understands that America's strength comes from many sources, especially the power of our ideas. He knows that a true leader inspires hope and vanquishes fear.



This administration does neither. Instead, it brings fear -- fear of rising costs for health care and for college; fear of higher unemployment and lesser pay; fear for the future of Social Security and Medicare; fear of greater bigotry; fear of pollution's stain on our magnificent natural heritage; fear of four more years of dreams denied and promises unfilled and progress rolled back.



In the depths of the Depression, Franklin Roosevelt inspired the nation when he said, "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself."



Today, we say: The only thing we have to fear if four more years of George Bush.



John Kerry offers hope not fear: the hope of real victory against terrorism and true security at home, of good health care for all Americans, of Social Security that is always there for the elderly, of schools and open golden doors of opportunity for all of our children, of an economy that works for everyone.



That's the kind of America we will have with John Kerry in the White House.



And the roots of that, America, are planted deep in New England soil.



Across this region are burial grounds -- many so humble. You find them without intending to. You're in a town like Concord, Massachusetts, or Hancock, New Hampshire. You're visiting the old church there, and behind the chapel you find a small plot, simple stones bearing simple markers. The markers say "War of 1776."



They do not ask for attention, but they command it all the same. These are the patriots who won our freedom. These are the first Americans who enlisted in a fight for something larger than themselves, for a shared faith in the future, for a nation that was alive in their hearts, but not yet part of their world.



They and their fellow patriots won their battle, but the larger battle for freedom and justice and equality and opportunity is our battle, too, and it's never fully won.



Each new generation has to take up the cause, sometimes with weapons in hand, sometimes armed only with faith and hope, like the marches in Birmingham and Selma four decades ago.



Sometimes the fight is waged in Congress or the courts, sometimes on foreign shores, like the battle that called one of my brothers to war in the Pacific and another to die in Europe.



Now, it is our turn to take up the cause. Our struggle is not with some monarch named George who inherited the crown, although it often seems that way.



Our struggle is with the politics of fear and favoritism in our own time, in our own country. Our struggle, like so many others before, is with those who put their own narrow interest ahead of the public interest.



We hear echoes of past battles in the quiet whisper of the sweetheart deal, in the hushed promise of a better break for the better connected.



We hear them in the cries of the false patriots who bully dissenters into silence and submission.



These are familiar fights. We've fought and won them before. And with John Kerry and John Edwards leading us, we will win them again and again and again and make America stronger at home and respected once more in the world.



For centuries, kings ruled by what they claimed was divine right. They could not be questioned. They could not be challenged. The people's fate was not their own.



But today, because of the surpassing wisdom of our founders, the constant courage of the patriots of the past and the shared sacrifice of generations of Americans who kept the faith, the power of America still rests securely in citizens' hands, in our hands.



True to our highest and noblest ideals, we intend to use that power. We will use it wisely and well. We will use it, in the poet's words my brothers loved, "to strive, to seek, to find and not to yield."



We will use it to heal, to build, to hope and to dream again. And in doing so, we will truly make our country once more "America the Beautiful."

    We are here tonight because we love our country.



    We are proud of what America is and what it can become.



    My fellow Americans: We are here tonight united in one simple
    purpose -- to make America stronger at home and respected in the world.



    A great American novelist wrote that you can't go home again. He
    could not have imagined this evening. Tonight, I am home. Home,
    where my public life began and those who made it possible live.
    Home, where our nation's history was written in blood, idealism and
    hope. Home, where my parents showed me the values of family, faith,
    and country.



    Thank you, all of you, for a welcome home I will never forget.



    I wish my parents could share this moment. They went to their rest
    in the last few years, but their example, their inspiration, their
    gift of open eyes, open mind, and endless world are bigger and more
    lasting than any words.



    I was born in Colorado, in Fitzsimmons Army Hospital, when my dad
    was a pilot in World War II. Now, I'm not one to read into things,
    but guess which wing of the hospital the maternity ward was in? I'm
    not making this up. I was born in the West Wing!



    My mother was the rock of our family as so many mothers are. She
    stayed up late to help me do my homework. She sat by my bed when I
    was sick, and she answered the questions of a child who, like all
    children, found the world full of wonders and mysteries.



    She was my den mother when I was a Cub Scout and she was so proud of
    her 50-year pin as a Girl Scout leader. She gave me her passion for
    the environment. She taught me to see trees as the cathedrals of
    nature. And by the power of her example, she showed me that we can
    and must finish the march toward full equality for all women in our
    country.



    My dad did the things that a boy remembers. He gave me my first
    model airplane, my first baseball mitt and my first bicycle. He also
    taught me that we are here for something bigger than ourselves; he
    lived out the responsibilities and sacrifices of the greatest
    generation to whom we owe so much.



    When I was a young man, he was in the State Department, stationed in
    Berlin when it and the world were divided between democracy and
    communism. I have unforgettable memories of being a kid mesmerized
    by the British, French and American troops, each of them guarding
    their own part of the city, and Russians standing guard on the stark
    line separating East from West. On one occasion, I rode my bike into
    Soviet East Berlin. And when I proudly told my dad, he promptly
    grounded me.



    But what I learned has stayed with me for a lifetime. I saw how
    different life was on different sides of the same city. I saw the
    fear in the eyes of people who were not free. I saw the gratitude of
    people toward the United States for all that we had done. I felt
    goose bumps as I got off a military train and heard the Army band
    strike up "Stars and Stripes Forever." I learned what it meant to be
    America at our best. I learned the pride of our freedom. And I am
    determined now to restore that pride to all who look to America.



    Mine were greatest generation parents. And as I thank them, we all
    join together to thank that whole generation for making America
    strong, for winning World War II, winning the Cold War, and for the
    great gift of service which brought America 50 years of peace and
    prosperity.



    My parents inspired me to serve, and when I was a junior in high
    school, John Kennedy called my generation to service. It was the
    beginning of a great journey -- a time to march for civil rights,
    for voting rights, for the environment, for women and for peace. We
    believed we could change the world. And you know what? We did.



    But we're not finished. The journey isn't complete. The march isn't
    over. The promise isn't perfected. Tonight, we're setting out again.
    And together, we're going to write the next great chapter of
    America's story.



    We have it in our power to change the world again. But only if we're
    true to our ideals -- and that starts by telling the truth to the
    American people. That is my first pledge to you tonight. As
    president, I will restore trust and credibility to the White House.



    I ask you to judge me by my record. As a young prosecutor, I fought
    for victim's rights and made prosecuting violence against women a
    priority. When I came to the Senate, I broke with many in my own
    party to vote for a balanced budget, because I thought it was the
    right thing to do. I fought to put a 100,000 cops on the street.



    And then I reached across the aisle to work with John McCain, to
    find the truth about our POW's and missing in action, and to finally
    make peace with Vietnam.



    I will be a commander in chief who will never mislead us into war. I
    will have a vice president who will not conduct secret meetings with
    polluters to rewrite our environmental laws. I will have a Secretary
    of Defense who will listen to the best advice of our military
    leaders. And I will appoint an Attorney General who actually upholds
    the Constitution of the United States.



    My fellow Americans, this is the most important election of our
    lifetime. The stakes are high. We are a nation at war -- a global
    war on terror against an enemy unlike any we have ever known before.
    And here at home, wages are falling, health care costs are rising,
    and our great middle class is shrinking. People are working
    weekends; they're working two jobs, three jobs, and they're still
    not getting ahead.



    We're told that outsourcing jobs is good for America. We're told
    that new jobs that pay $9,000 less than the jobs that have been lost
    is the best we can do. They say this is the best economy we've ever
    had. And they say that anyone who thinks otherwise is a pessimist.
    Well, here is our answer: There is nothing more pessimistic than
    saying America can't do better.



    We can do better and we will. We're the optimists. For us, this is a
    country of the future. We're the can do people. And let's not forget
    what we did in the 1990s. We balanced the budget. We paid down the
    debt. We created 23 million new jobs. We lifted millions out of
    poverty and we lifted the standard of living for the middle class.
    We just need to believe in ourselves -- and we can do it again.



    So tonight, in the city where America's freedom began, only a few
    blocks from where the sons and daughters of liberty gave birth to
    our nation -- here tonight, on behalf of a new birth of freedom --
    on behalf of the middle class who deserve a champion, and those
    struggling to join it who deserve a fair shot -- for the brave men
    and women in uniform who risk their lives every day and the families
    who pray for their return -- for all those who believe our best days
    are ahead of us -- for all of you -- with great faith in the
    American people, I accept your nomination for president of the
    United States.



    I am proud that at my side will be a running mate whose life is the
    story of the American dream and who's worked every day to make that
    dream real for all Americans -- Senator John Edwards of North
    Carolina. And his wonderful wife, Elizabeth, and their family. This
    son of a mill worker is ready to lead -- and next January, Americans
    will be proud to have a fighter for the middle class to succeed Dick
    Cheney as vice president of the United States.



    And what can I say about Teresa? She has the strongest moral compass
    of anyone I know. She's down to earth, nurturing, courageous, wise
    and smart. She speaks her mind and she speaks the truth, and I love
    her for that, too. And that's why America will embrace her as the
    next first lady of the United States.



    For Teresa and me, no matter what the future holds or the past has
    given us, nothing will ever mean as much as our children. We love
    them not just for who they are and what they've become, but for
    being themselves, making us laugh, holding our feet to the fire, and
    never letting me get away with anything. Thank you, Andre, Alex,
    Chris, Vanessa and John.



    And in this journey, I am accompanied by an extraordinary band of
    brothers led by that American hero, a patriot named Max Cleland. Our
    band of brothers doesn't march together because of who we are as
    veterans, but because of what we learned as soldiers. We fought for
    this nation because we loved it and we came back with the deep
    belief that every day is extra. We may be a little older now, we may
    be a little grayer, but we still know how to fight for our country.



    And standing with us in that fight are those who shared with me the
    long season of the primary campaign: Carol Moseley Braun, General
    Wesley Clark, Howard Dean, Dick Gephardt, Bob Graham, Dennis
    Kucinich, Joe Lieberman and Al Sharpton.



    To all of you, I say thank you for teaching me and testing me -- but
    mostly, we say thank you for standing up for our country and giving
    us the unity to move America forward.



    My fellow Americans, the world tonight is very different from the
    world of four years ago. But I believe the American people are more
    than equal to the challenge.



    Remember the hours after September 11th, when we came together as
    one to answer the attack against our homeland. We drew strength when
    our firefighters ran up the stairs and risked their lives, so that
    others might live. When rescuers rushed into smoke and fire at the
    Pentagon. When the men and women of Flight 93 sacrificed themselves
    to save our nation's Capitol. When flags were hanging from front
    porches all across America, and strangers became friends. It was the
    worst day we have ever seen, but it brought out the best in all of us.



    I am proud that after September 11th all our people rallied to
    President Bush's call for unity to meet the danger. There were no
    Democrats. There were no Republicans. There were only Americans. How
    we wish it had stayed that way.



    Now I know there are those who criticize me for seeing complexities
    -- and I do -- because some issues just aren't all that simple.
    Saying there are weapons of mass destruction in Iraq doesn't make it
    so. Saying we can fight a war on the cheap doesn't make it so. And
    proclaiming mission accomplished, certainly doesn't make it so.



    As president, I will ask hard questions and demand hard evidence. I
    will immediately reform the intelligence system, so policy is guided
    by facts, and facts are never distorted by politics. And as
    president, I will bring back this nation's time-honored tradition:
    The United States of America never goes to war because we want to,
    we only go to war because we have to.



    I know what kids go through when they are carrying an M-16 in a
    dangerous place and they can't tell friend from foe. I know what
    they go through when they're out on patrol at night and they don't
    know what's coming around the next bend. I know what it's like to
    write letters home telling your family that everything's all right
    when you're not sure that's true.



    As president, I will wage this war with the lessons I learned in
    war. Before you go to battle, you have to be able to look a parent
    in the eye and truthfully say: "I tried everything possible to avoid
    sending your son or daughter into harm's way. But we had no choice.
    We had to protect the American people, fundamental American values
    from a threat that was real and imminent." So lesson one, this is
    the only justification for going to war.



    And on my first day in office, I will send a message to every man
    and woman in our armed forces: You will never be asked to fight a
    war without a plan to win the peace.



    I know what we have to do in Iraq. We need a president who has the
    credibility to bring our allies to our side and share the burden,
    reduce the cost to American taxpayers, and reduce the risk to
    American soldiers. That's the right way to get the job done and
    bring our troops home.



    Here is the reality: That won't happen until we have a president who
    restores America's respect and leadership -- so we don't have to go
    it alone in the world.



    And we need to rebuild our alliances, so we can get the terrorists
    before they get us.



    I defended this country as a young man and I will defend it as
    president. Let there be no mistake: I will never hesitate to use
    force when it is required. Any attack will be met with a swift and
    certain response. I will never give any nation or international
    institution a veto over our national security. And I will build a
    stronger American military.



    We will add 40,000 active duty troops -- not in Iraq, but to
    strengthen American forces that are now overstretched, overextended
    and under pressure. We will double our special forces to conduct
    antiterrorist operations. We will provide our troops with the newest
    weapons and technology to save their lives -- and win the battle.
    And we will end the backdoor draft of National Guard and reservists.



    To all who serve in our armed forces today, I say, help is on the way.



    As president, I will fight a smarter, more effective war on terror.
    We will deploy every tool in our arsenal: our economic as well as
    our military might; our principles as well as our firepower.



    In these dangerous days there is a right way and a wrong way to be
    strong. Strength is more than tough words. After decades of
    experience in national security, I know the reach of our power and I
    know the power of our ideals.



    We need to make America once again a beacon in the world. We need to
    be looked up to and not just feared.



    We need to lead a global effort against nuclear proliferation -- to
    keep the most dangerous weapons in the world out of the most
    dangerous hands in the world.



    We need a strong military and we need to lead strong alliances. And
    then, with confidence and determination, we will be able to tell the
    terrorists: You will lose and we will win. The future doesn't belong
    to fear; it belongs to freedom.



    And the front lines of this battle are not just far away -- they're
    right here on our shores, at our airports, and potentially in any
    town or city. Today, our national security begins with homeland
    security. The 9/11 Commission has given us a path to follow,
    endorsed by Democrats, Republicans and the 9/11 families.



    As president, I will not evade or equivocate; I will immediately
    implement the recommendations of that commission. We shouldn't be
    letting 95 percent of container ships come into our ports without
    ever being physically inspected. We shouldn't be leaving our nuclear
    and chemical plants without enough protection. And we shouldn't be
    opening firehouses in Baghdad and closing them down in the United
    States of America.



    And tonight, we have an important message for those who question the
    patriotism of Americans who offer a better direction for our
    country. Before wrapping themselves in the flag and shutting their
    eyes and ears to the truth, they should remember what America is
    really all about. They should remember the great idea of freedom for
    which so many have given their lives. Our purpose now is to reclaim
    democracy itself. We are here to affirm that when Americans stand up
    and speak their minds and say America can do better, that is not a
    challenge to patriotism; it is the heart and soul of patriotism.



    You see that flag up there. We call her Old Glory. The stars and
    stripes forever. I fought under that flag, as did so many of you
    here and all across our country. That flag flew from the gun turret
    right behind my head. It was shot through and through and tattered,
    but it never ceased to wave in the wind. It draped the caskets of
    men I served with and friends I grew up with. For us, that flag is
    the most powerful symbol of who we are and what we believe in. Our
    strength. Our diversity. Our love of country. All that makes America
    both great and good.



    That flag doesn't belong to any president. It doesn't belong to any
    ideology and it doesn't belong to any political party. It belongs to
    all the American people.



    My fellow citizens, elections are about choices. And choices are
    about values. In the end, it's not just policies and programs that
    matter; the president who sits at that desk must be guided by principle.



    For four years, we've heard a lot of talk about values. But values
    spoken without actions taken are just slogans. Values are not just
    words. They're what we live by. They're about the causes we champion
    and the people we fight for. And it is time for those who talk about
    family values to start valuing families.



    You don't value families by kicking kids out of after school
    programs and taking cops off our streets, so that Enron can get
    another tax break.



    We believe in the family value of caring for our children and
    protecting the neighborhoods where they walk and play.



    And that is the choice in this election.



    You don't value families by denying real prescription drug coverage
    to seniors, so big drug companies can get another windfall.



    We believe in the family value expressed in one of the oldest
    Commandments: "Honor thy father and thy mother." As president, I
    will not privatize Social Security. I will not cut benefits. And
    together, we will make sure that senior citizens never have to cut
    their pills in half because they can't afford life-saving medicine.



    And that is the choice in this election.



    You don't value families if you force them to take up a collection
    to buy body armor for a son or daughter in the service, if you deny
    veterans health care, or if you tell middle-class families to wait
    for a tax cut, so that the wealthiest among us can get even more.



    We believe in the value of doing what's right for everyone in the
    American family.



    And that is the choice in this election.



    We believe that what matters most is not narrow appeals masquerading
    as values, but the shared values that show the true face of America.
    Not narrow appeals that divide us, but shared values that unite us.
    Family and faith. Hard work and responsibility. Opportunity for all
    -- so that every child, every parent, every worker has an equal shot
    at living up to their God-given potential.



    What does it mean in America today when Dave McCune, a steel worker
    I met in Canton, Ohio, saw his job sent overseas and the equipment
    in his factory literally unbolted, crated up, and shipped thousands
    of miles away along with that job? What does it mean when workers
    I've met had to train their foreign replacements?



    America can do better. So tonight we say: help is on the way.



    What does it mean when Mary Ann Knowles, a woman with breast cancer
    I met in New Hampshire, had to keep working day after day right
    through her chemotherapy, no matter how sick she felt, because she
    was terrified of losing her family's health insurance.



    America can do better. And help is on the way.



    What does it mean when Deborah Kromins from Philadelphia,
    Pennsylvania works and saves all her life only to find out that her
    pension has disappeared into thin air -- and the executive who
    looted it has bailed out on a golden parachute?



    America can do better. And help is on the way.



    What does it mean when 25 percent of the children in Harlem have
    asthma because of air pollution?



    America can do better. And help is on the way.



    What does it mean when people are huddled in blankets in the cold,
    sleeping in Lafayette Park on the doorstep of the White House itself
    -- and the number of families living in poverty has risen by three
    million in the last four years?



    America can do better. And help is on the way.



    And so we come here tonight to ask: Where is the conscience of our
    country?



    I'll tell you where it is: It's in rural and small town America;
    it's in urban neighborhoods and suburban main streets; it's alive in
    the people I've met in every part of this land. It's bursting in the
    hearts of Americans who are determined to give our country back its
    values and its truth.



    We value jobs that pay you more not less than you earned before. We
    value jobs where, when you put in a week's work, you can actually
    pay your bills, provide for your children, and lift up the quality
    of your life. We value an America where the middle class is not
    being squeezed, but doing better.



    So here is our economic plan to build a stronger America:



    First, new incentives to revitalize manufacturing.



    Second, investment in technology and innovation that will create the
    good-paying jobs of the future.



    Third, close the tax loopholes that reward companies for shipping
    our jobs overseas. Instead, we will reward companies that create and
    keep good paying jobs where they belong -- in the good old U.S.A.



    We value an America that exports products, not jobs -- and we
    believe American workers should never have to subsidize the loss of
    their own job.



    Next, we will trade and compete in the world. But our plan calls for
    a fair playing field -- because if you give the American worker a
    fair playing field, there's nobody in the world the American worker
    can't compete against.



    And we're going to return to fiscal responsibility because it is the
    foundation of our economic strength. Our plan will cut the deficit
    in half in four years by ending tax giveaways that are nothing more
    than corporate welfare -- and will make government live by the rule
    that every family has to follow: Pay as you go.



    And let me tell you what we won't do: We won't raise taxes on the
    middle class. You've heard a lot of false charges about this in
    recent months. So let me say straight out what I will do as
    president: I will cut middle-class taxes. I will reduce the tax
    burden on small business. And I will roll back the tax cuts for the
    wealthiest individuals who make over $200,000 a year, so we can
    invest in job creation, health care and education.



    Our education plan for a stronger America sets high standards and
    demands accountability from parents, teachers and schools. It
    provides for smaller class sizes and treats teachers like the
    professionals they are. And it gives a tax credit to families for
    each and every year of college.



    When I was a prosecutor, I met young kids who were in trouble,
    abandoned by adults. And as president, I am determined that we stop
    being a nation content to spend $50,000 a year to keep a young
    person in prison for the rest of their life -- when we could invest
    $10,000 to give them Head Start, Early Start, Smart Start, the best
    possible start in life.



    And we value health care that's affordable and accessible for all
    Americans.



    Since 2000, four million people have lost their health insurance.
    Millions more are struggling to afford it.



    You know what's happening. Your premiums, your co-payments, your
    deductibles have all gone through the roof.



    Our health care plan for a stronger America cracks down on the
    waste, greed and abuse in our health care system, and will save
    families up to $1,000 a year on their premiums. You'll get to pick
    your own doctor -- and patients and doctors, not insurance company
    bureaucrats, will make medical decisions. Under our plan, Medicare
    will negotiate lower drug prices for seniors. And all Americans will
    be able to buy less expensive prescription drugs from countries like
    Canada.



    The story of people struggling for health care is the story of so
    many Americans. But you know what, it's not the story of senators
    and members of Congress. Because we give ourselves great health care
    and you get the bill. Well, I'm here to say, your family's health
    care is just as important as any politician's in Washington, D.C.



    And when I'm president, America will stop being the only advanced
    nation in the world which fails to understand that health care is
    not a privilege for the wealthy, the connected, and the elected --
    it is a right for all Americans.



    We value an America that controls its own destiny because it's
    finally and forever independent of Mideast oil. What does it mean
    for our economy and our national security when we only have three
    percent of the world's oil reserves, yet we rely on foreign
    countries for 53 percent of what we consume?



    I want an America that relies on its own ingenuity and innovation --
    not the Saudi royal family.



    And our energy plan for a stronger America will invest in new
    technologies and alternative fuels and the cars of the future -- so
    that no young American in uniform will ever be held hostage to our
    dependence on oil from the Middle East.



    I've told you about our plans for the economy, for education, for
    health care, for energy independence. I want you to know more about
    them. So now I'm going to say something that Franklin Roosevelt
    could never have said in his acceptance speech: Go to johnkerry.com.



    I want to address these next words directly to President George W.
    Bush: In the weeks ahead, let's be optimists, not just opponents.
    Let's build unity in the American family, not angry division. Let's
    honor this nation's diversity; let's respect one another; and let's
    never misuse for political purposes the most precious document in
    American history, the Constitution of the United States.



    My friends, the high road may be harder, but it leads to a better
    place. And that's why Republicans and Democrats must make this
    election a contest of big ideas, not small-minded attacks. This is
    our time to reject the kind of politics calculated to divide race
    from race, group from group, region from region. Maybe some just see
    us divided into red states and blue states, but I see us as one
    America -- red, white and blue. And when I am president, the
    government I lead will enlist people of talent, Republicans as well
    as Democrats, to find the common ground -- so that no one who has
    something to contribute will be left on the sidelines.



    And let me say it plainly: In that cause, and in this campaign, we
    welcome people of faith. America is not us and them. I think of what
    Ron Reagan said of his father a few weeks ago, and I want to say
    this to you tonight: I don't wear my own faith on my sleeve. But
    faith has given me values and hope to live by, from Vietnam to this
    day, from Sunday to Sunday. I don't want to claim that God is on our
    side. As Abraham Lincoln told us, I want to pray humbly that we are
    on God's side. And whatever our faith, one belief should bind us
    all: The measure of our character is our willingness to give of
    ourselves for others and for our country.



    These aren't Democratic values. These aren't Republican values.
    They're American values. We believe in them. They're who we are. And
    if we honor them, if we believe in ourselves, we can build an
    America that's stronger at home and respected in the world.



    So much promise stretches before us. Americans have always reached
    for the impossible, looked to the next horizon, and asked: What if?



    Two young bicycle mechanics from Dayton asked what if this airplane
    could take off at Kitty Hawk? It did that and changed the world
    forever. A young president asked what if we could go to the moon in
    10 years? And now we're exploring the solar system and the stars
    themselves. A young generation of entrepreneurs asked, what if we
    could take all the information in a library and put it on a little
    chip the size of a fingernail? We did and that too changed the world
    forever.



    And now it's our time to ask: What if?



    What if we find a breakthrough to cure Parkinson's, diabetes,
    Alzheimer's and AIDs? What if we have a president who believes in
    science, so we can unleash the wonders of discovery like stem cell
    research to treat illness and save millions of lives?



    What if we do what adults should do -- and make sure all our
    children are safe in the afternoons after school? And what if we
    have a leadership that's as good as the American dream -- so that
    bigotry and hatred never again steal the hope and future of any
    American?



    I learned a lot about these values on that gunboat patrolling the
    Mekong Delta with young Americans who came from places as different
    as Iowa and Oregon, Arkansas, Florida and California. No one cared
    where we went to school. No one cared about our race or our
    backgrounds. We were literally all in the same boat. We looked out,
    one for the other -- and we still do. That is the kind of America I
    will lead as president -- an America where we are all in the same
    boat. Never has there been a more urgent moment for Americans to
    step up and define ourselves. I will work my heart out. But, my
    fellow citizens, the outcome is in your hands more than mine.



    It is time to reach for the next dream. It is time to look to the
    next horizon. For America, the hope is there. The sun is rising. Our
    best days are still to come.



    Goodnight, God bless you, and God bless America.






    On behalf of the great state of Illinois, crossroads of a nation,
    land of Lincoln, let me express my deepest gratitude for the
    privilege of addressing this convention. Tonight is a particular
    honor for me because, let's face it, my presence on this stage is
    pretty unlikely.



    My father was a foreign student, born and raised in a small village
    in Kenya. He grew up herding goats, went to school in a tin-roof
    shack. His father, my grandfather, was a cook, a domestic servant to
    the British.



    But my grandfather had larger dreams for his son. Through hard work
    and perseverance my father got a scholarship to study in a magical
    place, America, that stood as a beacon of freedom and opportunity to
    so many who had come before.



    While studying here, my father met my mother. She was born in a town
    on the other side of the world, in Kansas.



    Her father worked on oil rigs and farms through most of the
    Depression. The day after Pearl Harbor my grandfather signed up for
    duty, joined Patton's army and marched across Europe. Back home, my
    grandmother raised their baby and went to work on a bomber assembly
    line. After the war, they studied on the GI Bill, bought a house
    through FHA, and moved west, all the way to Hawaii, in search of
    opportunity.



    And they, too, had big dreams for their daughter, a common dream,
    born of two continents.



    My parents shared not only an improbable love; they shared an
    abiding faith in the possibilities of this nation. They would give
    me an African name, Barack, or "blessed," believing that in a
    tolerant America your name is no barrier to success.



    They imagined me going to the best schools in the land, even though
    they weren't rich, because in a generous America you don't have to
    be rich to achieve your potential.



    They're both passed away now. And yet, I know that, on this night,
    they look down on me with pride.



    And I stand here today, grateful for the diversity of my heritage,
    aware that my parents' dreams live on in my two precious daughters.



    I stand here knowing that my story is part of the larger American
    story, that I owe a debt to all of those who came before me, and
    that, in no other country on Earth, is my story even possible.



    Tonight, we gather to affirm the greatness of our nation, not
    because of the height of our skyscrapers, or the power of our
    military, or the size of our economy. Our pride is based on a very
    simple premise, summed up in a declaration made over two hundred
    years ago, "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men
    are created equal. That they are endowed by their Creator with
    certain inalienable rights. That among these are life, liberty and
    the pursuit of happiness."



    That is the true genius of America, a faith in the simple dreams, an
    insistence on small miracles. That we can tuck in our children at
    night and know they are fed and clothed and safe from harm. That we
    can say what we think, write what we think, without hearing a sudden
    knock on the door. That we can have an idea and start our own
    business without paying a bribe. That we can participate in the
    political process without fear of retribution, and that our votes
    will be counted -- or at least, most of the time.



    This year, in this election, we are called to reaffirm our values
    and commitments, to hold them against a hard reality and see how we
    are measuring up, to the legacy of our forbearers and the promise of
    future generations.



    And fellow Americans -- Democrats, Republicans, Independents -- I
    say to you tonight: we have more work to do. More work to do for the
    workers I met in Galesburg, Illinois, who are losing their union
    jobs at the Maytag plant that's moving to Mexico, and now are having
    to compete with their own children for jobs that pay seven bucks an
    hour. More to do for the father I met who was losing his job and
    choking back tears, wondering how he would pay $4,500 a month for
    the drugs his son needs without the health benefits that he counted
    on. More to do for the young woman in East St. Louis, and thousands
    more like her, who has the grades, has the drive, has the will, but
    doesn't have the money to go to college.



    Now don't get me wrong. The people I meet in small towns and big
    cities, in diners and office parks, they don't expect government to
    solve all their problems. They know they have to work hard to get
    ahead and they want to.



    Go into the collar counties around Chicago, and people will tell you
    they don't want their tax money wasted by a welfare agency or the
    Pentagon.



    Go into any inner city neighborhood, and folks will tell you that
    government alone can't teach our kids to learn. They know that
    parents have to parent, that children can't achieve unless we raise
    their expectations and turn off the television sets and eradicate
    the slander that says a black youth with a book is acting white.
    They know those things.



    People don't expect government to solve all their problems. But they
    sense, deep in their bones, that with just a change in priorities,
    we can make sure that every child in America has a decent shot at
    life, and that the doors of opportunity remain open to all. They
    know we can do better. And they want that choice.



    In this election, we offer that choice. Our party has chosen a man
    to lead us who embodies the best this country has to offer. And that
    man is John Kerry.



    John Kerry understands the ideals of community, faith, and service,
    because they've defined his life. From his heroic service in Vietnam
    to his years as prosecutor and lieutenant governor, through two
    decades in the United States Senate, he has devoted himself to this
    country. Again and again, we've seen him make tough choices when
    easier ones were available. His values and his record affirm what is
    best in us.



    John Kerry believes in an America where hard work is rewarded. So
    instead of offering tax breaks to companies shipping jobs overseas,
    he'll offer them to companies creating jobs here at home.



    John Kerry believes in an America where all Americans can afford the
    same health coverage our politicians in Washington have for themselves.



    John Kerry believes in energy independence, so we aren't held
    hostage to the profits of oil companies or the sabotage of foreign
    oil fields.



    John Kerry believes in the constitutional freedoms that have made
    our country the envy of the world, and he will never sacrifice our
    basic liberties nor use faith as a wedge to divide us.



    And John Kerry believes that in a dangerous world, war must be an
    option sometimes, but it should never be the first option.



    You know, a while back, I met a young man named Shamus at the VFW
    Hall in East Moline, Illinois. He was a good-looking kid, 6-2 or
    6-3, clear eyed, with an easy smile. He told me he'd joined the
    Marines and was heading to Iraq the following week.



    And as I listened to him explain why he'd enlisted, his absolute
    faith in our country and its leaders, his devotion to duty and
    service, I thought this young man was all that any of us might hope
    for in a child. But then I asked myself: Are we serving Shamus as
    well as he was serving us?



    I thought of the 900 men and women, sons and daughters, husbands and
    wives, friends and neighbors, who will not be returning to their
    hometowns. I thought of families I had met who were struggling to
    get by without a loved one's full income, or whose loved ones had
    returned with a limb missing or nerves shattered, but who still
    lacked long-term health benefits because they were reservists.



    When we send our young men and women into harm's way, we have a
    solemn obligation not to fudge the numbers or shade the truth about
    why they're going, to care for their families while they're gone, to
    tend to the soldiers upon their return, and to never ever go to war
    without enough troops to win the war, secure the peace, and earn the
    respect of the world.



    Now let me be clear. Let me be clear. We have real enemies in the
    world. These enemies must be found. They must be pursued and they
    must be defeated.



    John Kerry knows this. And just as Lieutenant Kerry did not hesitate
    to risk his life to protect the men who served with him in Vietnam,
    President Kerry will not hesitate one moment to use our military
    might to keep America safe and secure.



    John Kerry believes in America. And he knows that it's not enough
    for just some of us to prosper. For alongside our famous
    individualism, there's another ingredient in the American saga. A
    belief that we are all connected as one people.



    If there's a child on the South Side of Chicago who can't read, that
    matters to me, even if it's not my child.



    If there's a senior citizen somewhere who can't pay for their
    prescription and has to choose between medicine and the rent, that
    makes my life poorer, even if it's not my grandparent.



    If there's an Arab-American family being rounded up without benefit
    of an attorney or due process, that threatens my civil liberties.



    It is that fundamental belief -- it is that fundamental belief -- I
    am my brother's keeper, I am my sister's keeper -- that makes this
    country work.



    It's what allows us to pursue our individual dreams, yet still come
    together as a single American family. "E pluribus unum." Out of
    many, one.



    Now even as we speak, there are those who are preparing to divide
    us, the spin masters and negative ad peddlers who embrace the
    politics of anything goes.



    Well, I say to them tonight, there's not a liberal America and a
    conservative America -- there is the United States of America.



    There's not a black America and white America and Latino America and
    Asian America -- there is the United States of America.



    The pundits, the pundits like to slice and dice our country into red
    states and blue states; red states for Republicans, blue states for
    Democrats. But I've got news for them, too. We worship an awesome
    God in the blue states, and we don't like federal agents poking
    around our libraries in the red states.



    We coach Little League in the blue states and have gay friends in
    the red states.



    There are patriots who opposed the war in Iraq and patriots who
    supported it.



    We are one people, all of us pledging allegiance to the stars and
    stripes, all of us defending the United States of America.



    In the end, that's what this election is about. Do we participate in
    a politics of cynicism or do we participate in a politics of hope?



    John Kerry calls on us to hope. John Edwards calls on us to hope.
    I'm not talking about blind optimism here-the almost willful
    ignorance that thinks unemployment will go away if we just don't
    talk about it, or the health care crisis will solve itself if we
    just ignore it.



    That's not what I'm talking [about]. I'm talking about something
    more substantial. It's the hope of slaves sitting around a fire
    singing freedom songs; the hope of immigrants setting out for
    distant shores; the hope of a young naval lieutenant bravely
    patrolling the Mekong Delta; the hope of a mill worker's son who
    dares to defy the odds; the hope of a skinny kid with a funny name
    who believes that America has a place for him, too.



    Hope in the face of difficulty, hope in the face of uncertainty, the
    audacity of hope



    In the end, that is God's greatest gift to us, the bedrock of this
    nation; a belief in things not seen; a belief that there are better
    days ahead.



    I believe we can give our middle class relief and provide working
    families with a road to opportunity.



    I believe we can provide jobs to the jobless, homes to the homeless,
    and reclaim young people in cities across America from violence and
    despair.



    I believe that we have a righteous wind at our backs, and that as we
    stand on the crossroads of history, we can make the right choices
    and meet the challenges that face us.



    America, tonight, if you feel the same energy that I do, if you feel
    the same urgency that I do, if you feel the same passion that I do,
    if you feel the same hopefulness that I do, if we do what we must
    do, then I have no doubt that all across the country, from Florida
    to Oregon, from Washington to Maine, the people will rise up in
    November, and John Kerry will be sworn in as president. And John
    Edwards will be sworn in as vice president. And this country will
    reclaim its promise. And out of this long political darkness a
    brighter day will come.



    Thank you very much, everybody. God bless you. Thank you.




     

    Good evening, ladies and gentlemen.



    A few of you may be surprised to see someone with my last name
    showing up to speak at a Democratic convention. Let me assure you, I
    am not here to make a political speech, and the topic at hand should
    not -- must not -- have anything to do with partisanship.



    I am here tonight to talk about the issue of research into what may
    be the greatest medical breakthrough in our or in any lifetime: the
    use of embryonic stem cells -- cells created using the material of
    our own bodies -- to cure a wide range of fatal and debilitating
    illnesses: Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis, diabetes,
    lymphoma, spinal cord injuries, and much more. Millions are
    afflicted. Every year, every day, tragedy is visited upon families
    across the country, around the world.



    Now, we may be able to put an end to this suffering. We only need to
    try. Some of you already know what I'm talking about when I say
    "embryonic stem cell research." Others of you are probably thinking,
    hmm, that's quite a mouthful, what is this all about?



    Let me try and paint as simple a picture as I can while still doing
    justice to the incredible science involved. Let's say that ten or so
    years from now you are diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. There is
    currently no cure and drug therapy, with its attendant side-effects,
    can only temporarily relieve the symptoms.



    Now, imagine going to a doctor who, instead of prescribing drugs,
    takes a few skin cells from your arm. The nucleus of one of your
    cells is placed into a donor egg whose own nucleus has been removed.
    A bit of chemical or electrical stimulation will encourage your
    cell's nucleus to begin dividing, creating new cells which will then
    be placed into a tissue culture. Those cells will generate embryonic
    stem cells containing only your DNA, thereby eliminating the risk of
    tissue rejection. These stem cells are then driven to become the
    very neural cells that are defective in Parkinson's patients. And
    finally, those cells -- with your DNA -- are injected into your
    brain where they will replace the faulty cells whose failure to
    produce adequate dopamine led to the Parkinson's disease in the
    first place.



    In other words, you're cured. And another thing, these embryonic
    stem cells, they could continue to replicate indefinitely and,
    theoretically, can be induced to recreate virtually any tissue in
    your body. How'd you like to have your own personal biological
    repair kit standing by at the hospital? Sound like magic? Welcome to
    the future of medicine.



    By the way, no fetal tissue is involved in this process. No fetuses
    are created, none destroyed. This all happens in the laboratory at
    the cellular level.



    Now, there are those who would stand in the way of this remarkable
    future, who would deny the federal funding so crucial to basic
    research. They argue that interfering with the development of even
    the earliest stage embryo, even one that will never be implanted in
    a womb and will never develop into an actual fetus, is tantamount to
    murder. A few of these folks, needless to say, are just grinding a
    political axe and they should be ashamed of themselves. But many are
    well-meaning and sincere. Their belief is just that, an article of
    faith, and they are entitled to it.



    But it does not follow that the theology of a few should be allowed
    to forestall the health and well-being of the many. And how can we
    affirm life if we abandon those whose own lives are so desperately
    at risk?



    It is a hallmark of human intelligence that we are able to make
    distinctions. Yes, these cells could theoretically have the
    potential, under very different circumstances, to develop into human
    beings -- that potential is where their magic lies. But they are
    not, in and of themselves, human beings. They have no fingers and
    toes, no brain or spinal cord. They have no thoughts, no fears. They
    feel no pain. Surely we can distinguish between these
    undifferentiated cells multiplying in a tissue culture and a living,
    breathing person-a parent, a spouse, a child.



    I know a child -- well, she must be 13 now -- I'd better call her a
    young woman. She has fingers and toes. She has a mind. She has
    memories. She has hopes. And she has juvenile diabetes.



    Like so many kids with this disease, she has adjusted amazingly
    well. The insulin pump she wears -- she's decorated hers with
    rhinestones. She can insert her own catheter needle. She has learned
    to sleep through the blood drawings in the wee hours of the morning.
    She's very brave. She is also quite bright and understands full well
    the progress of her disease and what that might ultimately mean:
    blindness, amputation, diabetic coma. Every day, she fights to have
    a future.



    What excuse will we offer this young woman should we fail her now?
    What might we tell her children? Or the millions of others who
    suffer? That when given an opportunity to help, we turned away? That
    facing political opposition, we lost our nerve? That even though we
    knew better, we did nothing?



    And, should we fail, how will we feel if, a few years from now, a
    more enlightened generation should fulfill the promise of embryonic
    stem cell therapy? Imagine what they would say of us who lacked the
    will.



    No, we owe this young woman and all those who suffer -- we owe
    ourselves - - better than that. We are better than that. A wiser
    people, a finer nation. And for all of us in this fight, let me say:
    we will prevail.



    The tide of history is with us. Like all generations who have come
    before ours, we are motivated by a thirst for knowledge and
    compelled to see others in need as fellow angels on an often
    difficult path, deserving of our compassion.



    In a few months, we will face a choice. Yes, between two candidates
    and two parties, but more than that. We have a chance to take a
    giant stride forward for the good of all humanity. We can choose
    between the future and the past, between reason and ignorance,
    between true compassion and mere ideology. This is our moment, and
    we must not falter.



    Whatever else you do come November 2nd, I urge you, please, cast a
    vote for embryonic stem cell research. Thank you for your time.


Good evening, Mr. Chairman, Assembled Delegates, Honored Guests and Friends: Throughout the history of this nation, Americans have fought to protect our freedoms at home and to secure our nation against foreign and domestic threat.



We gather tonight in Boston where 228 years ago, people fought to establish American freedom. At that time, the first person to die in the Revolutionary War was a Black man from Barbados, Crispus Attucks, who is buried not far from this Fleet Center.



Forty years ago, in 1964, Fannie Lou Hamer and the Mississippi Freedom Democratic party stood at the Democratic National Convention in Atlantic City fighting to preserve voting rights for all Americans and all Democrats, regardless of race or gender. Hamer's stand led to Dr. King marching in Selma, which inspired the Voting Rights Act of 1965.



Twenty years ago, Rev. Jesse Jackson stood at the Democratic National Convention in San Francisco, again, appealing to the preservation of those freedoms.



Tonight, we stand with those freedoms at risk and our security as citizens in question. I have come here tonight to say, that the only choice we have to protect and preserve our freedoms at this point in history is the election of John Kerry as the president of the United States.



I stood with both John Kerry and John Edwards on over 30 occasions during the primary season. I debated them. I watched them. I observed their deeds. I am convinced that they are men who say what they mean and mean what they say. I am also convinced that at a time, when there is a vicious spirit in the body politic of this country that attempts to undermine America's freedoms - our civil rights, and civil liberties - we must leave this city and go forth and organize this nation toward victory for John Kerry and John Edwards in November.



This is not just about winning an election, it's about preserving the principles upon which this nation was founded. Look at the current view of our nation worldwide and the results of our unilateral foreign policy. We went from unprecedented international support and solidarity on September 12, 2001, to hostility and hatred as we stand here tonight. How did we squander the opportunity to unite the world for democracy and to commit to a global fight against hunger and disease?



We did it with a go-it-alone foreign policy based on flawed intelligence. We were told that we were going into Iraq because there were weapons of mass destruction. We've lost hundreds of soldiers. We've expended over 200 billion dollars at a time when we face record state deficits. And when it became clear, that the weapons were not there, the president sought to shift the purpose of the war and to challenge our patriotism.



We are also faced with the prospect, in the next four years, that two or more of the Supreme Court Justice seats will become available. This year, as we celebrated the anniversary of Brown vs. the Board of Education, this court voted 5 to 4 on critical issues of women's rights and civil rights.



It is frightening to think that the gains of the civil and women's rights movements of the last century could be reversed if this administration sits in the White House for four more years.



This is not about a party. It is about living up to the promise of America.



The promise of America says that we will guarantee quality education for all children, and not spend more for metal detectors than computers in our schools. The promise of America guarantees health care for all of its citizens, and does not force seniors to travel to Canada to buy prescription drugs they cannot afford here.



The promise of America provides that those who work in our health care system can afford to be hospitalized in the very beds that they clean everyday.



The promise of America is government that does not seek to regulate your behavior in the bedroom but to guarantee your right to provide food in the kitchen.



The promise of America is that we stand for human rights - whether it's fighting slavery in Sudan, AIDS in Lesotho, or police brutality in this country.



The promise of America is one immigration policy for all who seek to enter our shores, whether they come from Mexico, Haiti, or Canada.



The promise of America is that every citizen's vote is counted and protected, and election schemes do not decide elections.



I often hear the Republican party preach about family values, but I can tell them something about family values. Family values don't just exist for those with two-car garages and retirement plans. Family values exist in homes with only one parent in the household making a way against the odds.



I stand here tonight, the product of a single parent home, from the depths of Brooklyn, New York. My mother was a domestic worker who scrubbed floors in other people's homes for me. And because she scrubbed those floors, I was proud to stand as a presidential candidate. Those are family values



. I recall that a few days after the September 11 terrorist attacks I was in a radio station that played "America the Beautiful," as sung by Ray Charles. As you know, we lost Ray several weeks ago, but I can still hear him singing: "Oh beautiful for spacious skies, for amber waves of grain, for purple mountains majesty, above the fruited plain." We must leave here committed to making Ray Charles' song a reality and to making America beautiful for everyone.



Good night, God bless you all, and God bless America!