2008 Presidential Campaign Blog

Politics1 Names 4President.org Site of the Day

Politics1 names 4President.org the winner of the "Site of the Day" award.

"Our site of the day winner is 4President.org, a cool online online museum of Presidential campaign artifacts from 1960 through the present." Ron Gunzburger, Publisher of Politics1 goes on to say. "We regularly visit LOTS of campaign and politically-related websites. Some candidates, campaigns and groups truly get the concept of using the Internet as a tool to effectively convey messages, promote increased citizen involvement, enhance voter education, and effectively and innovatively use technology to advance their causes. We created this award to recognize deserving sites from all states, and at all levels of campaigns, ranging across the ideological spectrum."

Jimmy Carter 1976 Announcement

Address by Jimmy Carter Announcing his Candidacy for the 1976 Democratic Presidential Nomination to the National Press Club on December 12, 1974.

"We Americans are a great and diverse people. We take full advantage of our right to develop wide-ranging interests and responsibilities. For instance, I am a farmer, an engineer, a businessman, a planner, a scientist, a governor and a Christian. Each of you is an individual and different from all the others.

Yet we Americans have shared one thing in common: a belief in the greatness of our Country.

We have dared to dream great dreams for our Nation. We have taken quite literally the promises of decency, equality, and freedom - of an honest and responsible government.

What has now become of these great dreams? That all Americans stand equal before the law? That we enjoy a right to pursue health, happiness and prosperity in privacy and safety? That government be controlled by its citizens and not the other way around ? That this Country set a standard within the community of nations of courage, compassion, integrity, and dedication to basic human rights and freedoms?

Our commitment to these dreams has been sapped by debilitating compromise, acceptance of mediocrity, subservience to special interests, and an absence of executive vision and direction.

Having worked during the last twenty years in local, state and national affairs, I have learned a great deal about our people.

I tell you that their great dreams still live within the collective heart of this Nation.

Recently we have discovered that our trust has been betrayed. The veils of secrecy have seemed to thicken around Washington. The purposes and goals of our country are uncertain and sometimes even suspect.

Our people are understandably concerned about this lack of competence and integrity. The root of the problem is not so much that our people have lost confidence in government, but that government has demonstrated time and again its lack of confidence in the people.

Our political leaders have simply underestimated the innate quality of our people.

With the shame of Watergate still with us and our 200th birthday just ahead, it is time for us to reaffirm and to strengthen our ethical and spiritual and political beliefs.

There must be no lowering of these standards, no acceptance of mediocrity in any aspect of our private or public lives.

In Our homes or at worship we are ever reminded of what we ought to do and what we ought to be. Our government can and must represent the best and the highest ideals of those of us who voluntarily submit to its authority.

Politicians who seek to further their political careers through appeals to our doubts, fears and prejudices will be exposed and rejected.

For too long political leaders have been isolated from the people. They have made decisions from an ivory tower. Few have ever seen personally the direct impact of government programs involving welfare, prisons, mental institutions, unemployment, school busing or public housing. Our people feel that hey have little access to the core of government and little influence with elected officials.

Now it is time for this chasm between people and government to be bridged, and for American citizens to join in shaping our Nation's future.

It is now time to stop and to ask ourselves the question which my last commanding officer, Admiral Hyman Rickover, asked me and every other young naval officer who serves or has served in an atomic submarine.

For our Nation - for all of us - that question is: "Why not the best?

Full Speech Text

Minnesota Public Radio on the Death of Senator Eugene McCarthy

Minnesota Public Radio on the Death of Senator Eugene McCarthy

"Former Democratic Sen. Eugene McCarthy, one of Minnesota's and the country's most influential political figures of the last century, has died. He was 89. His son Michael says McCarthy died in his sleep at the Washington retirement home where he had lived for the past few years.

McCarthy served two terms in the U.S. Senate, and before that five terms in the House of Representatives. His political zenith came in 1968. His opposition to the Vietnam War turned into a crusade to capture the Democratic presidential nomination. McCarthy didn't win. But his candidacy, and the 1968 campaign, left lasting imprints on American politics."

Included in the resources section on Senator McCarthy is a link to 4President.org and the 1968 Presidential Campaign.

Pat Buchanan 1992 Announcement

Pat Buchanan 1992 Announcement at the New Hampshire State Legislative Office Building, December 10, 1991

"My friends, we come to New Hampshire at a crossroads in our country's history.

So we are taking this campaign not just to Republicans, and not just to conservatives. Every American is invited to join, the middle-class of both parties, and of no party. For the establishment that has dominated Congress for four decades is as ossified and out-of-touch with America as the establishment that resides in the White House.

So, to take my party back and take our country back, I am today declaring my candidacy for the Republican nomination for the President of the United States."

Full Speech Text

Eugene McCarthy 1968 Announcement

Press Conference of Senator Eugene J. McCarthy in the Senate Caucus Room, Washington, D.C. on November 30, 1967.

"I intend to enter the Democratic primaries in four states: Wisconsin, Oregon, California and Nebraska. The decision with reference to Massachusetts, and also New Hampshire, will be made within the next two or three weeks.

My decision to challenge the President's position and the Administration's position has been strengthened by recent announcements out of the Administration--the evident intention to escalate and to intensify the war in Vietnam and, on the other hand, the absence of any positive indications or suggestions for a compromise or for a negotiated political settlement. I am concerned that the Administration seems to have set no limit to the price which it is willing to pay for a military victory.

I am hopeful that this challenge which I am making--which I hope will be supported by other members of the Senate and other politicians--may alleviate at least in some degree of this sense of political helplessness and restore to many people a belief in the processes of American politics and of American government; that on the college campuses especially and also among adult, thoughtful Americans, it may come to the growing sense of alienation from politics which I think is currently reflected in a tendency to withdraw from political action, to talk of non-participation, to become cynical and to make threats of support for third parties or fourth parties or other irregular political movements. 

I do not see in my move any great threat to the unity and strength of the Democratic Party--whatever that unity may be today and whenever that strength may be. 

Let me say that—as I am sure I shall be charge—I am not for peace at any price, but for an honorable, rational and political solution to this war; a solution which I believe will enhance our world position, encourage the respect of our Allies and our potential adversaries, which will permit us to get the necessary attention to other commitments--both at home and abroad, militarily and did not militarily--and leave us with resources and moral energy to deal effectively with a pressing domestic problems of the United States itself.  In this total effort, I believe we can restore to this nation a clear sense of purpose and of dedication to the achievement of our traditional purposes as a great nation in the twentieth century."

Full Speech Text

George Romney 1968 Announcement

Governor George Romney of Michigan announced his candidacy for President of the United States at the Veteran’s Memorial Building in Detroit on November 18, 1967.

"One was aspires to the Presidency should be confident he can be useful and capable of providing the needed leadership. 

I decided to fight for and win the Republican nomination and election as President of the United States.  I have made my decision with a great earnestness. 

We can, we must, solve the problems on which the Federal bureaucracy has so obviously failed. Our national government must lead in identifying national problems, establishing priorities, and encouraging maximum state, local, and private effort in their solution. To succeed we must decentralize problem-solving responsibility and action.

If we do those things at home, we will have taken the first giant step for re-establishing the influence of the United States in the World.

To apply these principles, to achieve these goals, to build a new America, we must have a Republican President.

The Republican Party has the faith in the individual, and voluntary cooperation, private competitive enterprise, free collective bargaining, and state and local government needed to apply these principles at home. A Republican President can work for a just peace in Vietnam unshackled by mistakes of the past. A Republican President can restore truth to government and regain the confidence of the people.

We need leadership that can elevate religion and morality to their position of paramount importance and thus eliminating growing selfishness, and immorality, and materialism. We must end the spirit of “anything goes,” and restore the importance and quality of our personal lives.

A New America requires leadership which, by word and deed, merits the confidence of the people and is worthy of God’s blessing.

Because I believe that, working together, we can build a New America, I will work toward this goal with all my heart, mind, and new spirit. I pledge energy and honesty to the task."

Full Speech Text

Mark Warner Forward Together PAC Web Site

Mark Warner launched the new Forward Together PAC Web Site with this blog entry.

"Hi, thanks for stopping by the Forward Together website. While you?re here, I hope you?ll check out some of the information about what we?ve been working on in Virginia over the last four years. As well as some of our ideas of where the country needs to head in the coming months and years.

We?ve just finished a hard campaign with a terrific victory. The win was an affirmation of what we?ve been doing in Virginia over the past four years, with Governor-elect Tim Kaine a partner by my side in that effort. The win was a rejection of the relentless negative campaigning by the other side. What struck me was that 98% of the job of being Governor dealt with things the opposition was not talking about?things like balancing the budget, keeping education fully funded, and grappling with transportation issues. I think Virginians saw that too. The message that won was positive and forward looking, focused on results and solutions.

I?ve still got two months of being Governor in Virginia, and have a few new initiatives and a budget to produce. After I finish this job, I want to be one of the voices that debate where the Democratic Party is headed. I plan on blogging more often too. Again, thanks for checking out Forward Together."

Ronald Reagan 1980 Announcement

Ronald Reagan delivered this speech to the nation, announcing his candidacy for President of the United States at the New York Hilton, New York, NY on November 13, 1979

"Good evening. I am here tonight to announce my intention to seek the Republican nomination for President of the United States.

I'm sure that each of us has seen our country from a number of viewpoints depending on where we've lived and what we've done. For me it has been as a boy growing up in several small towns in Illinois. As a young man in Iowa trying to get a start in the years of the Great Depression and later in California for most of my adult life.

I've seen America from the stadium press box as a sportscaster, as an actor, officer of my labor union, soldier, officeholder and as both a Democrat and Republican. I've lived in America where those who often had too little to eat outnumbered those who had enough. There have been four wars in my lifetime and I've seen our country face financial ruin in the Depression. I have also seen the great strength of this nation as it pulled itself up from that ruin to become the dominant force in the world.

To me our country is a living, breathing presence, unimpressed by what others say is impossible, proud of its own success, generous, yes and naive, sometimes wrong, never mean and always impatient to provide a better life for its people in a framework of a basic fairness and freedom.

Someone once said that the difference between an American and any other kind of person is that an American lives in anticipation of the future because he knows it will be a great place. Other people fear the future as just a repetition of past failures. There's a lot of truth in that. If there is one thing we are sure of it is that history need not be relived; that nothing is impossible, and that man is capable of improving his circumstances beyond what we are told is fact.

A troubled and afflicted mankind looks to us, pleading for us to keep our rendezvous with destiny; that we will uphold the principles of self-reliance, self-discipline, morality, and--above all--responsible liberty for every individual that we will become that shining city on a hill.

I believe that you and I together can keep this rendezvous with destiny.

Thank you and good night."

Full Speech Text

Bob Dole 1988 Announcement

Announcement Speech of Senator Bob Dole in Russell, Kansas on November 9, 1987.

"I know many of you have come a good distance, and I'm thankful for that. I also recall a time in 1976 when President Gerald Ford joined me here, and that was another great day for Russell. I enjoy showing Russell off, although it doesn't take a whole lot longer now than it did when I was a boy.

When I look out on Main Street this morning, I see the faces of people who know me best -- or their children or grandchildren -- people who have always accepted me, and believed in me.

There are people standing here who long ago put quarters they couldn't spare in this cigar box. That generosity helped reshape my life.

I remember the experience -- many years ago -- that began when I felt a sting in the shoulder. I remember the first thing I thought about was home.

The goodness of the people of Russell over the years has been the source of my inspiration and my strength. The people who settled this community, like so many others across America, were immigrants and frontiersmen and homesteaders who knew that grit and endurance and reliance on one's neighbors were needed to build a better life for their children. They were optimists and builders; they harnessed invention and hard work to carve a life out of the wilderness. I have carried the spirit of this place with me throughout my life.

That is why I have come back home today to announce before family and friends, that I am a candidate for my party's nomination to the office of President of the United States."

Full Speech Text

DNC Announces Dates for 2008 Democratic Convention

DNC Announces Dates for 2008 Democratic Convention

Washington, DC - DNC Chairman Howard Dean today announced that the 2008 Democratic National Convention will be held Monday, August 25th through Thursday, August 28th. The late August convention date will allow the Democrats to host their convention after the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.

“I’m pleased to announce that the 2008 Democratic National Convention will be held in late August 2008,” said DNC Chairman Howard Dean. “I look forward to joining with Democrats from across the country August 25-28th, as we gather to formally nominate our 2008 Presidential ticket.”