Governor Dean electrified the AFL-CIO forum tonight -- he received the largest and most enthusiastic response, showing a deep command of the issues and powerful grassroots support within labor. Here is his closing statement:
"The real question here tonight is which one of us can beat George Bush. Here's is how I plan to do it.
I opposed the war in Iraq, not because I am a pacifist, but because I didn't think the evidence was there.
I opposed No Child Left Behind because it was an unfunded mandate that doesn't help kids and it leaves more of them behind. I opposed the tax cuts because I want a balanced budget and investment in America so we can have jobs in this country again.
You can't beat President Bush by trying to be like him, we tried that in 2002 and it didn't work. The way to beat this President is to stand up and be proud to be Democrats.
Look to what Harry Truman put in the 1948 Democratic Party platform: Health insurance for everybody. We need to stand up for ourselves again and take on the President directly.
In the last quarter most of you know I raised a lot of money. That was great. But it was the way I raised it that matters. 93,000 Americans, more than half who never gave to a political candidate before, and most of the gifts were under 100 dollars. That's how you can beat a President that can get $2000 checks as often as he wants. We're going to give the 50% of Americans who don't vote anymore a reason to vote in the Democratic Party.
We're going to stand up and be proud to be Democrats. We've got the numbers, and this time, the person who gets the most votes is going to win the White House."
