2008 Presidential Campaign Blog

Democratic Party Unveils Redesigned Web Site

Democratic Party Unveils New Online Community - Democrats.org Redesigned. Washington, DC -- Today the DNC unveiled a remodeled Democrats.org Web site. The new site features tools and content aimed at building a grassroots community and enables Democrats to connect locally and nationally to spread the democratic message. During the 2004 campaign season, record numbers of Americans choose to get involved in the political process, the resources available on Democrats.org will provide a way for people to continue to be involved and engaged on an ongoing basis. Visitors to the Web site will be able to participate in online conversations; comment on the latest news, national, regional and local blogs; and through a new program -- Democracy Bonds.

"Democrats.org is now a one stop shop for information about the Democratic Party. This new Web site is the first phase of our long term commitment to keep people engaged and involved in the Democratic Party -- 365 days a year. Democratic activists will be able to discuss not only national politics, but local politics, candidates and issues." said Gov. Howard Dean, Chairman of the DNC.

Over the next few months, Democrats.org will add more tools and features -- including event listings of Democratic activities on the national, regional and state level and new event organizing tools.

Microsoft to Deliver RSS Support

This may be the most important announcement relating to the Internet and the 2008 Presidential Campaign. With this functionality and standardization in the operating system, Presidential Campaign Web Sites could deliver lists of the top 10 issues, photo albums, videos, and podcasts as RSS feeds.

SEATTLE— June 24, 2005 — Microsoft Corp. today announced support for RSS (Really Simple Syndication) in the next version of the Microsoft® Windows® operating system, code-named “Longhorn.” The RSS functionality in “Longhorn” is being designed to make it simple for end users to discover, view and subscribe to RSS feeds, as well as make it easier for developers to incorporate the rich capabilities of RSS into their applications. In addition, Microsoft announced Simple List Extensions, a set of extensions to RSS that can be used to enable Web sites to publish lists as RSS feeds. Microsoft is making the specification freely available via the Creative Commons license.

"RSS is key to how people will use the Internet in the future by automatically delivering the information that is important to them,” said Dean Hachamovitch, general manager for “Longhorn” browsing and RSS at Microsoft. “We are investing heavily in RSS for Windows ‘Longhorn’ to make it easy for users to discover, read and subscribe to RSS feeds as well as enable developers to deliver powerful, smart applications that act on the information on behalf of the user.”

Microsoft Press Release

Howard Dean 2004 Announcement

The Great American Restoration by Governor Howard Dean on June 23, 2003.

"Today I announce that I am running for President of the United States of America. I speak not only for my candidacy. I speak for a new American century and a new generation of Americans -- both young people and the young at heart. We seek the great restoration of American values and the restoration of our nation's traditional purpose in the world.

This is a campaign to unite and empower people everywhere.

It is a call to every American, regardless of party, to join together in common purpose and for the common good to save and restore all that it means to be an American.

Over a year ago I began to travel the country in the usual way one does when seeking the Presidency.

The great lie spoken by politicians on platforms like this is the cry of "elect me and I will solve all your problems."

The truth is the future of our nation rests in your hands, and not in mine.

Abraham Lincoln said that government of the people, by the people and for the people shall not perish from this earth.

But this President has forgotten ordinary people.

You have the power to reclaim our nation's destiny.

You have the power to rid Washington of the politics of money.

You have the power to make right as important as might.

You have the power to give Americans a reason to vote again.

You have the power to restore our nation to fiscal sanity and bring jobs back to our people.

You have the power to fulfill Harry Truman's dream and bring health insurance to every American.

You have the power to give us a foreign policy consistent with American values again.

You have the power to take back the Democratic Party.

You have the power to take our country back.

And we have the power to take the White House back in 2004."

Full Speech Text

Joe Biden Will Seek 2008 Democratic Nomination

Joe Biden announced on the television program "CBS News'  Face The Nation" that he would seek the Democratic nomination in 2008.

Senator Biden said "My Intention is to seek the nomination...If, in fact, I think that I have a clear shot at winning the nomination by this November or December, then I'm going to seek the nomination."

The Senator formally announced his candidacy for the 1988 campaign on June 9, 1987.

P2008 Photo

Al Gore 2000 Announcement

Remarks by Al Gore at his Announcement of Candidacy in Carthage, Tennessee on Wednesday, June 16, 1999.

"I love this country with all my heart. I love free speech. I believe in its future. And I know that with our history as our rudder and our ideals as our compass, we can reach our new horizon.

And so today, I ask you to join with me, to keep our economy growing and to bring a new wave of fundamental change to this nation - starting with revolutionary improvements in our public schools.

I ask you to join with me, to build safe and livable communities, where we protect our environment, and restore the quality of life we deserve.

I ask for your help to strengthen family life in America. And I make you this pledge: if you entrust me with the Presidency, I will marshal its authority, its resources, and its moral leadership to fight for America's families.

With your help, I will take my own values of faith and family to the Presidency - to build an America that is not only better off, but better. And that is why today, I announce that I am a candidate for President of the United States.

I need you for this journey. So together let us vow, in these first long days of summer, that we will work through the night, so that our children may make a clean start from the right place -- a higher place -- in a fresh century.

Thank you and may God bless you.

And God Bless America."

Full Speech Text

George W. Bush 2000 Announcement

George W. Bush For President Announcement in Cedar Rapids, Iowa on Saturday, June 12, 1999.
 
"I have come here today to tell you this: I am running for President of the United States. There’s no turning back, and I intend to be the next President of the United States.

I’m running because our country must be prosperous. But prosperity must have a purpose. The purpose of prosperity is to make sure the American dream touches every willing heart. The purpose of prosperity is to leave no one out… to leave no one behind. I’m running because my party must match a conservative mind with a compassionate heart. And I’m running to win.

I want you to imagine a campaign that carries this message. We will defend the American dream with sound economic policies and tax cuts. But we will also tell every American, "The dream is for you." Tell forgotten children in failed schools, "The dream is for you." Tell families, from the barrios of LA to the Rio Grande Valley: "El sueno americano es para ti." Tell men and women in our decaying cities, "The dream is for you." Tell confused young people, starved of ideals, "The dream is for you." This is the kind of campaign we must run.

For my part, I’m running, and I’m running hard. I know that this race will be competitive. I know the other candidates are good and talented people. And I know I’m late. But now that the Texas legislative session is over, I’m taking my front porch campaign to every front porch in this state. I will tell people exactly what I told you here today. Face to face. Eye to eye. And I cannot wait.

It feels to me like an old era of American politics is ending -- like Americans are waiting for new hopes, new energy, new idealism. We will prove that someone who is conservative and compassionate can win without sacrificing principle. We will show that politics, after a time of tarnished ideals, can be higher and better. We will give our country a fresh start after a season of cynicism.

We have a long way to go, but we start today. And I hope you’ll join me.

Thank you"

Full Speech Text

Bill Clinton Announcement Speech Reference

Link: Bull Moose.

The challenge for Democrats is to be both partisans and conciliators. Sounds like an impossible task - not exactly because there is a precedent . Consider this passage from Bill Clinton's 1991 announcement speech, "Make no mistake - this election is about change: in our party, in our national leadership, and in our country. And we're not going to get positive change just by Bush-bashing. We have to do a better job of the old-fashioned work of confronting the real problems of real people and pointing the way to a better future. That is our challenge in 1992. Today, as we stand on the threshold of a new era, a new millennium, I believe we need a new kind of leadership, leadership committed to change. Leadership not mired in the politics of the past, not limited by old ideologies..." Dr. Moose suggests that Democrats need to reconnect with their inner Clinton.

Joe Biden 1988 Announcement

Biden Announcement for Presidency on June 9, 1987 in Wilmington, Delaware.

“I run for President because I believe the 1988 election, at its heart, can be reduced to a fundamental choice between two paths to our future; the easy path, in which we consolidate our current comfort and a quick and false prosperity by consuming our children's future; and another, more difficult path, that builds a more genuine prosperity for ourselves, while guaranteeing to our children their birthright. If we choose the easy path, raiding our nation's stores, and devouring the seed corn of our children, we will deliver to them a lesser America, the fading shadow of a dimming promise. And beyond a doubt, history will judge us to have failed to discharge our moral responsibility for the continuance of our heritage…lf we choose the second, more difficult path, rising to meet our destiny, we will be able to stand before our children, as our mothers and fathers stood before us, and say: “We have kept the faith.”

“And finally, we must rekindle the fire of idealism in our society -- for nothing suffocates the promise of America more than unbounded cynicism and indifference. We must reclaim the tradition of community in our society. We must reassert the oneness of America. America has been and must once again be a seamless web of caring and community...I am absolutely convinced that this generation is poised to respond to this challenge. And for my part, this is the issue upon which I will stake my candidacy.”

Full Speech Text

Russ Feingold Progressive Patriots Fund

The Russ Feingold Progressive Patriots Fund Launches Website with this Press Release.

Feingold Calls on "Netroots" to Help Reform Patriot Act

Middleton, WI—- U.S. Senator Russ Feingold’s Progressive Patriots Fund launched a new website today, http://www.progressivepatriotsfund.com, with a call for citizen co-sponsors of his efforts to protect our freedoms and reform the USA PATRIOT Act.

“We can fight terrorism and protect the freedoms that make us Americans,” Feingold said, “The Progressive Patriots Fund and our website is an effort to give a voice to that value.”

Feingold continues to lead the effort to protect privacy and personal freedoms, having cast the Senate’s lone vote against the PATRIOT Act—legislation which members of both parties now agree must be changed to protect the rights of law-abiding Americans.

Congress is currently considering the reauthorization of 16 key provisions of the USA PATRIOT Act. Feingold has joined with a bipartisan coalition in co-sponsoring the SAFE Act to protect the freedoms of all Americans by fixing specific portions of the USA PATRIOT Act that go too far.

Feingold’s Progressive Patriots Fund is targeting citizen co-sponsor support from the netroots with its website launch by advertising on  popular “blogs”

The Progressive Patriots Fund is dedicated to promoting a progressive reform agenda and supporting candidates across the country. The organization will enable Feingold to be a part of a larger national effort to build the Democratic Party throughout America as he travels across the country, listens to others, and speaks out on important issues.

Last November, Feingold won re-election to his third term, representing the Midwestern battleground state of Wisconsin, with an 11percentage point victory and the most votes for any candidate, for any office, in the state’s history.

Minnesota Leads U.S. Voter Turnout in 2004

U.S. Voter Turnout Up in 2004, Census Bureau Reports.

Sixty-four percent of U.S. citizens age 18 and over voted in the 2004 presidential election, up from 60 percent in 2000, the U.S. Census Bureau reported today. Tables from a November survey also show that of 197 million citizens, 72 percent (142 million) reported they were registered to vote. Among those registered, 89 percent (126 million) said they voted. In the 2000 election, 70 percent of citizens were registered; and among them, 86 percent voted.

Minnesota had the highest citizen-voting rate at 79 percent, and North Dakota the highest citizen-registration rate at 89 percent.

Seventy-three percent of veteran citizens cast ballots, compared with 63 percent of their nonveteran counterparts.