JIM GILMORE MAKES IT OFFICIAL IN WEBCAST FROM IOWA;
WARNS ABOUT THE NEED FOR A MORE SECURE AMERICA
DES MOINES – Former Virginia Gov. Jim Gilmore sounded a warning about America’s preparedness for a terrorist attack today and announced that he is officially entering the race for the Republican presidential nomination “because we must do more to keep our country and our families safe.”
Gilmore, who served as a noncommissioned officer in U.S. Army counter-intelligence, was Governor of Virginia when terrorists flew a plane into the Pentagon. At the time he was serving as the chairman of the Gilmore Commission, which for three years have been making recommendations on ways to prevent and respond to terrorism. After the attacks, Congress and the federal government adopted 146 of the commission’s 164 recommendations.
"When terrorists hit the World Trade Center and the Pentagon in Virginia, many of us lost friends and loved ones. And our nation forever lost a sense of ‘It can’t happen here.’ Well, it did happen here and, make no mistake, it will happen again. And next time our nation must be better prepared.”
In a live online chat following the announcement at www.GilmoreforPresident.com, Gilmore answered questions and responded to comments from voters across the country ranging from Iraq to property rights. The former Governor said he hopes to become the first blogging President.
Gilmore’s formal entry into the most wide open presidential race in more than 50 years came as he made his third visit to Iowa in the last three weeks. The Iowa presidential caucuses will be held on January 14, 2008. So far, conservatives in Iowa and elsewhere are expressing their dissatisfaction with the so-called front runners for the Republican nomination
A native of Richmond, Virginia, Gilmore, 57, is the son of working class parents. As Governor of Virginia, he became a champion of the taxpayers by reducing taxes on working men and woman by $1.5 billion. He has been awarded the Friend of the Taxpayer Award three times by Americans for Tax Reform, is a former chairman of the Republican National Committee and is a former Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the U.S. Air Force Academy.
