2008 Presidential Campaign Blog

Gore 2000 Launches New Web Site

On August 14, 2000 the Gore Lieberman campaign issued this press release announcing the launch of the new Al Gore Web Site.

Karenna Gore Schiff Demonstrates New Site's Interactivity and Cutting-Edge Features.

Los Angeles - From the podium at the Staples Center, Karenna Gore Schiff today announced the launch of AlGore.com. This new site stresses interactivity and facilitates virtual participation in the campaign. Schiff's announcement will be available to voters and press via the Internet. The web site offers voters the opportunity to learn about the values and vision of Al Gore and his running mate, Joe Lieberman. Visitors can participate in an "Interactive Town Hall" or study up on the most important issues facing working families.

"I hope that every voter across the country visits our new website," said Gore. "In one place they can find everything they need to know, not just about me and my running mate, Joe Lieberman, but also about the important issues in this campaign."

Schiff is the head of GoreNet, a network of young people working to help elect Al Gore and Joe Lieberman. She has been campaigning on her own and building a network of young people across the country to support her father.

"Information is crucial to voters when choosing a candidate," said Schiff. "That's why I am excited about the launch of AlGore.com. It gives visitors the opportunity to learn where my father and Joe Lieberman stand on the issues."

Ben Green directs Internet operations at Gore 2000. He helped design the innovative "Interactive Town Hall," where voters can submit questions and see responses from the candidates.

"Voters are beginning to focus on this election. AlGore.com provides an opportunity to participate in the campaign and make a decision," said Gore 2000 director of Internet operations Ben Green. "This new site sets the standard for Internet campaigning and demonstrates Al Gore's commitment to working families."

The new site is designed to serve a broad audience of Web users: supporters looking for information and opportunities to participate in the campaign; activists using the Internet as a means to mobilize voters; and undecided voters looking for more information on how Gore and Lieberman will fight for working families.

The site offers voters a broad range of Take Action opportunities, which allow supporters to participate actively in the campaign. Through these Take Action opportunities Web site visitors can: volunteer to participate in local campaign events; create custom Web pages with pictures and text to mail to friends; send links to Gore 2000 Web pages to friends; register to vote online; and join Women for Gore's "Winning the Difference" e-mail project.

The site's Interactive Town Hall allows Web-surfing voters to submit questions to Gore and Lieberman. Selected questions will be answered by Gore and Lieberman and posted on the Web site. On the site's Build Your Own Campaign page, Web visitors can contribute their views, sharing their passion about the issues facing working families.

Each of the fifty United States will have its own homepage that will feature issues and events important to that state. At the top of each Web page is a link to a Spanish translation, which features the same look and feel of the English language page.

Richard Nixon 1968 Convention

Richard M. Nixon Presidential Nomination Acceptance Speech at the Republican National Convention in Miami Beach, Florida on August 8, 1968.

"Sixteen years ago I stood before this Convention to accept your nomination as the running mate of one of the greatest Americans of our time -- or of any time -- Dwight D. Eisenhower.

Eight years ago, I had the highest honor of accepting your nomination for President of the United States.  Tonight, I again proudly accept that nomination for President of the United States.

But I have news for you. This time there is a difference.

This time we are going to win.

We are going to win because at a time that America cries out for the unity that this Administration has destroyed, the Republican Party -- after a spirited contest for its nomination -- for President and for Vice President stands united before the nation tonight.

I congratulate Governor Reagan. I congratulate Governor Rockefeller. I congratulate Governor Romney. I congratulate all those who have made the hard fight that they have for this nomination. And I know that you will all fight even harder for the great victory our party is going to win in November because we're going to be together in that election campaign.

And a party that can unite itself will unite America.

My fellow Americans, most important -- we are going to win because our cause is right.

The time has come for us to leave the valley of despair and climb the mountain so that we may see the glory of the dawn --a new day for America, and a new dawn for peace and freedom in the world."

Full Speech Text

Presidential Libraries Stamp First-Day Dedication

PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARIES TO BE CELEBRATED ON STAMP AUG 4 THROUGH SPECIAL DEDICATION CEREMONIES AT ALL 12 LOCATIONS

WASHINGTON -The U.S. Postal Service will celebrate Presidential Libraries with a commemorative postage stamp to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the Presidential Libraries Act of 1955. The Aug. 4 First-Day-of-Issue dedication ceremonies will take place at all of the nation's 12 Presidential Libraries and Museums. The new stamp recognizes the libraries' role in preserving and extending access to Presidential materials while recounting the lives and times of many of our nation's Presidents.

"Presidential Libraries, as democratic institutions, are critical to an open society in that they allow Americans access to papers and other materials not available thorough traditional libraries," said Postmaster General John E. Potter. "The U.S. Postal Service is proud to honor their importance and is encouraging Americans to visit these national treasures."

The stamp, designed by Howard E. Paine, bears an image of the Presidential seal reproduced in gold against a crème colored background. The type, produced in hand calligraphy by Julian Waters, reads: "Presidential Libraries Fifty Years 37 USA."

The nation's 12 Presidential Libraries house materials generated during the administrations of Presidents Herbert Hoover, Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman, Dwight Eisenhower, John Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton.

Full USPS Press Release

George W. Bush 2000 Convention

Governor George W. Bush Acceptance Speech in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on Thursday, August 3, 2000.

"Mr. Chairman, delegates, and my fellow citizens ... I accept your nomination. Thank you for this honor. Together, we will renew America's purpose.

Our founders first defined that purpose here in Philadelphia ... Ben Franklin was here. Thomas Jefferson. And, of course, George Washington -- or, as his friends called him, "George W."

I am proud to have Dick Cheney at my side. He is a man of integrity and sound judgment, who has proven that public service can be noble service. America will be proud to have a leader of such character to succeed Al Gore as Vice President of the United States.

I am grateful for John McCain and the other candidates who sought this nomination. Their convictions strengthen our party.

I am especially grateful tonight to my family.

No matter what else I do in life, asking Laura to marry me was the best decision I ever made.

To our daughters, Barbara and Jenna, we love you, we're proud of you, and as you head off to college this fall ... ... Don't stay out too late, and e-mail your old dad once in a while, will you?

And mother, everyone loves you and so do I.

Growing up, she gave me love and lots of advice. I gave her white hair. And I want to thank my father -- the most decent man I have ever known. All my life I have been amazed that a gentle soul could be so strong. And Dad, I want you to know how proud I am to be your son.

My father was the last president of a great generation. A generation of Americans who stormed beaches, liberated concentration camps and delivered us from evil.

Some never came home.

Those who did put their medals in drawers, went to work, and built on a heroic scale ... highways and universities, suburbs and factories, great cities and grand alliances -- the strong foundations of an American Century.

Now the question comes to the sons and daughters of this achievement...

What is asked of us?

This is a remarkable moment in the life of our nation. Never has the promise of prosperity been so vivid. But times of plenty, like times of crisis, are tests of American character.

Prosperity can be a tool in our hands -- used to build and better our country. Or it can be a drug in our system -- dulling our sense of urgency, of empathy, of duty.

Our opportunities are too great, our lives too short, to waste this moment.

So tonight we vow to our nation ...

We will seize this moment of American promise.

We will use these good times for great goals.

We will confront the hard issues -- threats to our national security, threats to our health and retirement security -- before the challenges of our time become crises for our children.

And we will extend the promise of prosperity to every forgotten corner of this country.

To every man and woman, a chance to succeed. To every child, a chance to learn. To every family, a chance to live with dignity and hope.

My fellow citizens, we can begin again. After all of the shouting, and all of the scandal. After all of the bitterness and broken faith. We can begin again.

The wait has been long, but it won't be long now.

A prosperous nation is ready to renew its purpose and unite behind great goals ... and it won't be long now.

Our nation must renew the hopes of that boy I talked with in jail, and so many like him... and it won't be long now.

Our country is ready for high standards and new leaders ... and it won't be long now.

An era of tarnished ideals is giving way to a responsibility era ... and it won't be long now.

I know how serious the task is before me.

I know the presidency is an office that turns pride into prayer.

But I am eager to start on the work ahead.

And I believe America is ready for a new beginning.

My friend, the artist Tom Lea of El Paso, captured the way I feel about our great land.

He and his wife, he said, "live on the east side of the mountain ...

It is the sunrise side, not the sunset side.

It is the side to see the day that is coming ... not the side to see the day that is gone."

Americans live on the sunrise side of mountain.

The night is passing.

And we are ready for the day to come.

Thank you. And God bless you.

Full Speech Text

Bob Dole Web Site Redesign

August 2, 1996
DOLE CAMPAIGN ANNOUNCES NEW WEB SITE

"There's no doubt we'll look back at Web sites today and basically say ... that they were quite primitive. They don't customize what they present to the viewers' interests. They don't remember: Have you been there before? What have you seen before? And that's got to change." -- Bill Gates, MSNBC, July 15, 1996

IT HAS . . .

DOLE CAMPAIGN ANNOUNCES LAUNCH OF FIRST INDIVIDUALLY-CUSTOMIZED POLITICAL WEB SITE

The Dole for President campaign today launched its general election Web site -- the first political Web site to individually-customize itself for each user's interests, home state, and last visit.

When users first visit the site, they are given the option of setting up a custom Dole Web page. Each custom page contains a personal tool bar that welcomes the user by name, alerts them to an electronic "In Box" containing any new press releases or other campaign materials posted since their last visit, directs them to briefing papers on issues in which they expressed interest, and offers a home-state icon for local information about the Clinton record and the Dole agenda in that state.

The Dole Web site also customizes to take each users' technical capabilities into account by offering different variations with Shockwave applications and/or RealAudio. The user is even given a layout choice by selecting from a variety of animated and non-animated "footers" for the main page.

Unlike other political Web sites, the Dole campaign also offers users a mechanism to give feedback to the campaign on policy positions. Each briefing paper is an interactive document that lets users tell the campaign what priority they think a Dole administration should give the initiative.

The Interactive section of the site has also been redesigned and expanded. In addition to reviewing policy papers, speeches, backgrounders, and press releases, visitors to the Dole site can:

Create custom Dole campaign buttons.

Download official Dole for President computer "wallpaper."

Design and mail their own e-mail postcards to friends.

Make a personalized Dole for President campaign poster.

Test their knowledge with Dole trivia questions and crossword puzzles.

Review state issues and where Dole has visited through interactive maps.

Tom Vilsack Heartland PAC Web Site Launch

Tom Vilsack posted this entry in the discussion section of his new Heartland PAC on Aug 1st, 2005 at 12:41 pm EDT

A Community of Ideas

To win elections – and to regain the majority status - we will have to draw a bright line between our party and our opponents. We will have to become the party of ideas and the party of candidates who inspire and take action.

That is why we are launching this online community and a marketplace of ideas at HeartlandPac.org. We are going to strive to bring big ideas from Americans and share them with candidates across the country to help them win.

It may sound idealistic, but that is the essence of what Heartland PAC is about. We all have to take the responsibility to help make the Democratic party the party of ideas.

We cannot divine a winning message from polls or past elections. We have to work together to craft a message that comes from the courage to confront the problems we face and the passion to make our communities better.

It is easy to get upset. It is easy to second guess ourselves or concentrate on the results of the last election. We can literally hold our breath until the red states turn blue but that is not going to affect the lives of Americans. It is not going to improve our schools, our healthcare system, our energy independence, our economy, or our position in the world.

And it is pretty clear that Americans are waiting for us to step forward. They are desperate to hear our ideas, because it is becoming clear to them that the ideas and actions of the Bush administration - and many Republican governors - are not working. But their failure is not our success. We have to give people a reason to believe we can do better.

We have to speak up and we have to listen to each other. We have to ensure everyone in this party has the opportunity to proudly declare our values and present voters with bold ideas and a compelling message.

Many in the online community have already begun to move our party in this direction, and this forum is one more tool to move the party forward and to elect Democrats in states across the country.

But the website is more than just a tool or a piece of software. It is that ideas will help draw the bright line between us and our opponents.

John Kerry 2004 Convention

Remarks of Senator John Kerry at the 2004 Democratic National Convention on Thursday, July 29, 2004 held at the Fleet Center in Boston, Massachusetts.

"I'm John Kerry and I'm reporting for duty. (Salutes)

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.                        

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."

Full Speech Text

Iowa True Blue Blog

Gordon R. Fischer, who served as Chair of the Iowa Democratic Party from 2002 to 2004 began his blog with this statement.

"On This Blog, I want to talk about Iowa politics and policy. It is my hope to be guided by five simple principles:

*Community: the idea each of us should try to share with the world as a whole.

*Responsibility: the idea each of us are accountable for our own actions and omissions.

*Patriotism: the idea we live in a wonderful State, and in the greatest nation in history.

*Freedom: the idea we not only can take issue with our government, but that if we think something’s wrong, we indeed have the duty and obligation to speak out.

*Equality: the idea, as Mr. Jefferson said, we are all created equal."

Mike Dukakis 1988 Convention

Michael S. Dukakis accepting the Democratic Nomination for the Presidency of the United States in Atlanta, Georgia on July 21, 1988.
 
"My fellow Democrats. My fellow Americans.

Sixteen months ago, when I announced my candidacy for the Presidency of the United States, I said this campaign would be a marathon. Tonight, with the wind at our backs; with friends by our side; with courage in our hearts; the race to the finish line begins.
 
And we're going to win this race.

We're going to win because we are the party that believes in the American dream.

A dream so powerful that no distance of ground, no expanse of ocean, no barrier of language, no distinction of race or creed or color can weaken its hold on the human heart.

And I know, because my friends, I'm a product of that dream and I'm proud of it"

A dream that brought my father to this country 76 years ago; that brought my mother and her family here one year later--poor, unable to speak English; but with a burning desire to succeed in their new land of opportunity.

And tonight, in the presence of that marvelous woman who is my mother and who, came here 75 years ago; with the memory in my heart of the young man, who arrived at Ellis Island with only $25 in his pocket, but with a deep and abiding faith in the promise of America--and how I wish he was here tonight; he'd be very proud of his son, and he'd be very proud of his adopted country, I can assure you--tonight, as a son of immigrants with a wonderful wife and now with Lisa our lovely daughter-in-law, four terrific children; and as a proud public servant who has cherished every minute of the last sixteen months on the campaign trail, I accept your nomination for the Presidency of the United States.

And we're going to build the kind of America that Lloyd Bentsen has been fighting for 40 years; the kind of America where hard work is rewarded; where American goods and American workmanship are the best in the world, the kind of America that provides American workers and their families with at least 60 days' notice when a factory or a plant shuts down.

To build the future so that when our children and grandchildren look back in their time on what we did in our time; they will say that we had the wisdom to carry on the dreams of those who came before us; the courage to make our own dreams come true; the foresight to blaze a trail for generations yet to come.

And as I accept your nomination tonight, I can't help recalling that the first marathon was run in ancient Greece, and that on important occasions like this one, the people of Athens would complete their ceremonies by taking a pledge.

That pledge--that covenant--is as eloquent and timely today as it was 2000 years ago.

"We will never bring disgrace to this, our country, by any act of dishonesty or of cowardice. We will fight for the ideals of this, our country. We will revere and obey the law. We will strive to quicken our sense of civic duty. Thus, in all these ways, we will transmit this country greater, stronger, prouder and more beautiful than it was transmitted to us."

That is my pledge to you, my fellow Democrats.

And that is my pledge to you, my fellow Americans.

Thank you all, very, very much."

Full Speech Text

Ronald Reagan 1980 Convention

Ronald Reagan Nomination Acceptance Speech at the Republican National Convention in Detroit, Michigan on July 17, 1980.

"With a deep awareness of the responsibility conferred by your trust, I accept your nomination for the presidency of the United States. I do so with deep gratitude, and I think also I might interject on behalf of all of us, our thanks to Detroit and the people of Michigan and to this city for the warm hospitality they have shown. And I thank you for your wholehearted response to my recommendation in regard to George Bush as a candidate for vice president.

I am very proud of our party tonight. This convention has shown to all America a party united, with positive programs for solving the nation's problems; a party ready to build a new consensus with all those across the land who share a community of values embodied in these words: family, work, neighborhood, peace and freedom.

More than anything else, I want my candidacy to unify our country; to renew the American spirit and sense of purpose. I want to carry our message to every American, regardless of party affiliation, who is a member of this community of shared values.

Tonight, let us dedicate ourselves to renewing the American compact. I ask you not simply to "Trust me," but to trust your values--our values--and to hold me responsible for living up to them. I ask you to trust that American spirit which knows no ethnic, religious, social, political, regional, or economic boundaries; the spirit that burned with zeal in the hearts of millions of immigrants from every corner of the Earth who came here in search of freedom.

Some say that spirit no longer exists. But I have seen it--I have felt it--all across the land; in the big cities, the small towns and in rural America. The American spirit is still there, ready to blaze into life if you and I are willing to do what has to be done; the practical, down-to-earth things that will stimulate our economy, increase productivity and put America back to work. The time is now to resolve that the basis of a firm and principled foreign policy is one that takes the world as it is and seeks to change it by leadership and example; not by harangue, harassment or wishful thinking.

The time is now to say that while we shall seek new friendships and expand and improve others, we shall not do so by breaking our word or casting aside old friends and allies.

And, the time is now to redeem promises once made to the American people by another candidate, in another time and another place. He said, "For three long years I have been going up and down this country preaching that government--federal, state, and local--costs too much. I shall not stop that preaching. As an immediate program of action, we must abolish useless offices. We must eliminate unnecessary functions of government...we must consolidate subdivisions of government and, like the private citizen, give up luxuries which we can no longer afford."

"I propose to you, my friends, and through you that government of all kinds, big and little be made solvent and that the example be set by the president of the United State and his Cabinet."

So said Franklin Delano Roosevelt in his acceptance speech to the Democratic National Convention in July 1932.

The time is now, my fellow Americans, to recapture our destiny, to take it into our own hands. But, to do this will take many of us, working together. I ask you tonight to volunteer your help in this cause so we can carry our message throughout the land.

Yes, isn't now the time that we, the people, carried out these unkempt promises? Let us pledge to each other and to all America on this July day 48 years later, we intend to do just that.

I have thought of something that is not part of my speech and I'm worried over whether I should do it.

Can we doubt that only a Divine Providence placed this land, this island of freedom, here as a refuge for all those people in the world who yearn to breathe freely: Jews and Christians enduring persecution behind the Iron Curtain, the boat people of Southeast Asia, of Cuba and Haiti, the victims of drought and famine in Africa, the freedom fighters of Afghanistan and our own countrymen held in savage captivity.

I'll confess that I've been a little afraid to suggest what I'm going to suggest--I'm more afraid not to--that we begin our crusade joined together in a moment of silent prayer. God bless America."

Full Speech Text