2008 Presidential Campaign Blog

Bob Kerrey 1992 Announcement

U.S. Senator Bob Kerry Announcement Speech for the Candidacy of President of the United States of America on September 30, 1991 in Linclon, Nebraska.

"At the center of this great country and on the edge of a new century, I am today announcing my candidacy to be the next President of the United States of America.

This announcement is to all America. But the first message is to Nebraska. You are the people who supported me each time I've asked for help. In my family, business and in politics.

I have never done anything alone; I have always needed you and you have never disappointed me.

At the beginning of this campaign I remember this community most for what you did for me during my life's most difficult time: when I came home wounded and disillusioned from the Vietnam War. Through your collective kindness, you helped a weakened, lonely and altogether unpleasant young man to renew his sense of purpose and to rediscover his spirit.

You did not ask what was in it for you. You didn't calculate the return you might receive on your investment. You simply and powerfully extended love and friendship ... and I will never be able to thank you enough.

Nothing better symbolizes the sense of new purpose we need to demand of our leaders than the building that stands behind me -- Nebraska's State Capitol. It was built by Nebraskans at the start of the Great Depression. If ever a people had the right to give up it was the people who built this building.

But just look at what they did. They built this building with cash. They built it to last and to be enjoyed beyond their lifetimes. They were not motivated by a depreciation schedule or the desire to brag about their accomplishment on their campaign brochures. They built this building for generations yet unborn. And they did something else we should notice and emulate -- they built it to inspire.

This building turns our eyes and spirits upward. It should occur to us that if God gave the Nebraskans of our past the strength and courage to overcome pessimism and build for greatness, then we ought not doubt our capacity to do the same.

It requires us to believe. It requires us to risk. Most of all it requires us to look towards and work for the future.

The words of a martyr to the cause of freedom should guide our work today:

"It may be that the day of judgment will dawn tomorrow; in that case, we shall gladly stop working for a better future. But not before."

Let us go now ... and begin the good work of building greatness in America again."

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John McCain 2000 Announcement

Republican presidential candidate U.S. Senator John McCain's announcement speech.

"I have the privilege of beginning my campaign with you here in New Hampshire, but I began this day as I began my career of service to our nation...in the company of United States Naval Academy midshipmen.

Whenever I see those young men and women, and think of their dedication and the purposeful careers on which they will soon embark, I am reminded of how lucky I was to have been one of them. So there is no more appropriate place for me to have begun this mission than Annapolis.

I do not announce my candidacy to satisfy my personal ambitions. My life has already been blessed more than I deserve.

I don't begin this mission with any sense of entitlement. America doesn't owe me anything. I am the son and grandson of Navy admirals, and I was born into America's service. It wasn't until I was deprived of her company that I fell in love with America. And it has been my honor to serve her and her great cause - freedom. I have never lived a day since that I wasn't thankful for the privilege.

It is because I owe America more than she has ever owed me that I am a candidate for President of the United States.

II want to be President to protect, until my life's end, our magnificent dream of freedom - God's great blessing to the world. And with your help I will.

Thank you."

Fred Harris 1972 Announcement

Statement of U.S. Senator Fred R. Harris in Washington, DC.

"1972 is a crucial year. America won’t be the same in 1976. I intend to try to turn this country around before it's too late.

I am a candidate for the Democratic nomination for President of the United States.

People have a right to believe that if they get interested in a presidential campaign things will change.

I believe that a President can call this country back to the greatness that is in us. I mean to try."

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Carol Moseley Braun 2004 Announcement

Announcement Speech on 22 September 2003 at Howard University - Washington, D.C., Benedict College - Columbia, SC, University of Illinois - Chicago, IL.

"I would like to thank all of the friends, supporters, and strangers, too, who have led me along my path towards this day. Over the past several months I have traveled America, talking with people, listening to them, registering voters and engaging in a passionate debate about our country's direction. I am grateful to all those who opened their homes and their hearts, to those who shared their experiences with me, and who made it possible for me to explore the prospect of a Presidential campaign. Thank you for your encouragement.

Today, I am officially declaring my candidacy for the Democratic nomination for President of the United States.

I am running for the Democratic nomination because I believe this party ought to stand for inclusion, hope, and new ways to resolve old problems.

I am fighting for the nomination because I am determined to move our party in the direction of our nation's most noble ideals, and live up to our generation's duty to leave the next generation no less freedom, no less opportunity, no less optimism than we inherited from our ancestors.

I am dedicated to building partnerships for peace, prosperity and progress based on new ideas that are as practical as they are innovative. These partnerships will help us shape an American renaissance and renewal in the best traditions of our country.

I have the experience, the ability and the ideas to heal and renew America. In all of my public service, I have broken down barriers, built bridges and brought people together to achieve solutions that put the public interest first.

The time has come to meet the challenge of our founding fathers' vision, and I am prepared to fight for you and with you to revive the American dream of freedom and opportunity. Together we will break down barriers. Together we will rebuild and restore our country. And together we will give ourselves the greatest gift of all: an America we can be proud of.

Thank you for your patriotism. Thank you for your energy. Thank you for your faith in the goodness of this country. We will lift up the hearts of the American people. We will inspire hope. We will renew the American Spirit. And we will win. Together, failure is impossible."

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Steve Forbes 1996 Announcement

Steve Forbes Presidential Announcement at the National Press Club on September 22, 1995.

"It's no secret. I am here today to announce that I am running for President of the United States.

This is, to say the least, an unusual candidacy, and I expect there are a few skeptics in the room.

But, I am throwing my hat into the ring today in full confidence that this campaign for President can and will succeed.

I am running because I believe the American people share the same desire for an end of politics as usual. I believe that they share the same vision of an unshackled future-- a future that embraces all the wonderful opportunities in the new economy.

I think a lot of people would agree, there is an empty feeling in this campaign so far. One reason is that none of the other candidates is raising high the banner of economic expansion and opportunity -- like John F. Kennedy did with his promise to "get this country moving again," and like Ronald Reagan did when he cut taxes and regulation and ushered in the longest peacetime expansion in American history.

We must re-discover and revitalize the American experiment, the essence of which is giving individuals the opportunity to discover and develop their God-given talents. In America, extraordinary deeds are done when seemingly ordinary people are allowed and encouraged to take responsibility for themselves, for their families and for their communities.

If the American experiment is renewed and re-energized, we will astound ourselves and the world with our opportunities and our achievements. The people of the world will ask themselves and their governments, "If America can do it, why can't we?" By following our example and our principles, they will.

And I'll leave you with a final thought. Fifteen years ago, in 1980, the candidacy of a man named Ronald Reagan was considered right here, at this great Press Club. And his prospects seemed so bad that when you listed candidates and their support, he got an asterisk. That's pretty much where I'm starting. But, like Reagan, that's not where I intend to finish.

I thank you all very much."

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Alan Keyes 2000 Announcement

Alan Keyes Announcement Speech in Iowa on September 20, 1999.

"Thank you, please have a seat. Thank you all for coming. I want first to make it very clear that the purpose of bringing you all together tonight is to clarify, if there had been any doubt in anybody's mind, that I am seeking and do intend to pursue the Republican nomination for President of the United States.

What we must try to do within the Republican Party today is bring the healing influence of the real grass roots to a cadre of leadership that has lost its way in the confusions of ambition and power. This is something that from time to time the people of this country are called to do if we are to preserve our heritage of self-government. It is hard work. It will require that in spite of all hesitation and embarrassment and this and that, we show a willingness to stand in our own circles, in our own families, amongst our own friends and our own workplaces, in our own churches, to issue the call for an unequivocal commitment to this agenda of principle. But I believe that if we are willing to do so, then that faithfulness will indeed be rewarded by our God, with a victory that will help to restore the hope that alone can come in this country from our dedication to the moral spirit of reverence for truth and for God that is in fact the basis of our claim to rights, and our hope for justice and liberty. Thank you very much."

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Sargent Shriver 1976 Announcement

Announcement Statement of Sargent Shriver at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, D.C. on September 20, 1975.

I am happy to announce my candidacy for President of the United States.  I seek an open nomination openly arrived at, earned in the primaries and local caucuses and state conventions.  I want to tell you why I am running and why I am asking people to join in running with me.

It may be hard for some to believe, but it is not lust for elective office or power.  I know too well, and in ways too personal, the sadness and isolation associated with the Presidency.  So I do not approach this campaign in a spirit of compulsive ambition or naive exhilaration.

The reason I am running is simply this: Given what I believe; what I have worked for throughout the last 30 years; what I see happening in this country and the world, and what I want to see happen; and given the lack of leadership to deal with our problems at home and abroad -- I could not stand aside.

Every candidate for the office of the presidency in recent memory has believed that his was the critical hour.  So, it is difficult to find language undebased by the rhetoric of the past to express how I feel about where we are as a people today.

The test of leadership now, as it was for Lincoln, is to reach and bring into action the better angels of our nature.  No poll can prove this, but I am convinced that people’s cynicism about politicians rises and falls with politicians’ cynicism about people.  There are many frustrations and modern life, even the best of times, which a demagogue can invoke.  He may win some passing applause and perhaps even votes, but if he releases the worst instincts of people, we will reap the whirlwind. 

How do we decide who will lead the American people?  The truth is that no one man and woman is qualified to lead single-handedly.  From the experience of 30 years in public and private life, I know it is vital to do as much listening as talking, as much questioning as answering.  For the American people are the greatest teachers of all.  What we will need is a rallying together, a mutual struggle, not just a commitment to a candidate but commitment to one another. 

So I look forward to a people’s campaign.  And I’m grateful to the many who are here to start with me, including planeloads and busloads of friends and associates who have known me most of my life; people committed to justice and community, regardless of region, race, religion, and all the a conventional divisions of left, right and center. 

Finally, I’m fortified by my family -- by my mother who has seen 23 presidential campaigns, by my wife, Eunice, and our sons and daughter, by my brother Herbert, by Rose Kennedy and Ethel Kennedy and Jackie, by Jean, and Pat, and Joan, and when my most admirable sister-in-law, Willa Shriver of Baltimore.  In peace and war, in public and private life, they know the demands and duties, the joys and sorrows of the kind of course I’m taking, and have encouraged me to take it. 

When my own family came to Maryland over 250 years ago, they came with dreams that millions of Americans have come to share.  Those dreams nourish me today.  They will inspire all of us in the days and months ahead.

Whenever Washington lacks positive direction, it has been remarked, you may be sure that something is struggling to be born in the nation.  There is a wind coming.  It can be a good wind or an ill wind; it is up to us, together, to set its direction. 

Let us remember there is no conservative or liberal remedy for the sickness of the national spirit.  The cure will come from honest, truthful leadership that summons the best in us – as we remember John Kennedy once did.  His legacy awaits the leader who can claim it. 

I intend to claim it, not for myself alone, but for the family that first brought it into being, for the millions who joyfully and hopefully entered public service in those days in order to produce a better life for all, and to those billions of unknown, uncounted human beings who I’ve seen all over the world -- in Asia, South America, Western Europe and the Soviet Union -- for whom the memory of those days and of John Kennedy is still an inspiration to their minds and a lift to their hearts.  That’s what we must all be proud of once again. 

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Wes Clark 2004 Announcement

Announcement Speech of Wesley K. Clark  on September 17, 2003 in Little Rock, Arkansas

"My name is Wes Clark. I am from Little Rock, Arkansas, and I'm here to announce that I intend to seek the Presidency of the United States of America.

Well for my family and me, it's been a long journey from Little Rock. From West Point to Vietnam, 34 years in the United States Army, through war in the Balkans, back to Little Rock for business. And I'm proud to have made that journey, proud to have served my country in uniform, and proud to be back home today in Little Rock.

Now we're talking about a new journey. This is a journey I couldn't begin without all of you, friends and family, high school classmates, business colleagues, close personal friends, from all over the state, especially I want to recognize the hundreds of people who are here because of the Draft Clark movement. Thank you.

Let's recognize who we are. We are Americans and we have extraordinary promise and live in a time of extraordinary promise. We're the strongest nation in the world. We don't have to fear. We're the leading economy in the world. We can create jobs. We're a military without peer, and we're proud of our Armed Forces and our Veterans.

We've got a heritage of democracy, the rule of law, the respect for the rights and dignity of each and every individual that makes America the envy of the world. And I think to put it in business terms, we're diverse, energetic, practical and innovative. This 21st century is going to be our American century, just like the 20th century was.

And together, we're going to march forward. Forward with a new vision. Forward to bring our children and grandchildren into a future, brightened by hope, courage, and our determination that we can do better. We will do better. And we will do it together.

So that's our campaign. We're firm in our intent, we're clear in our purposes, we're mustering the resources, building the nucleus, drawing the support of people from all across this great land. We're underway and moving forward, we need your help here in Little Rock. Here in Arkansas and across America. But I want to reach out especially to those in Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and everywhere across America. Get ready, we're moving out!"

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John Edwards 2004 Announcement

John Edwards Presidential Announcement Address on Tuesday, September 16, 2003 in Robbins, North Carolina.

"Good morning. Welcome to my hometown, Robbins, North Carolina.

It's great to be home with my family, my parents, my wife Elizabeth, and my children, and with my dearest friends. Thank you for the life you've given me and the example you've set for me. And thank all of you for being here today.

I have come home to stand in the shadow of the mill where my father worked, where I worked and where I learned the value of a hard day's work. We're not far from the post office where my mother worked, the church where we went each week, and the high school where I played football and hoped to be the first in my family to go to college.

I grew up in an American town, and I grew up with America's dream. I owe everything I have to the America I grew up in.

This is where I learned that a job is about more than a paycheck, it is about dignity, responsibility and self-respect.

This is where I learned that credibility is the currency of good people.

This is where I learned that the simple promise of America is the enduring greatness of America: a better life for all who work for it.

And so this is where - today - to make opportunity the birthright of every American, I declare myself a candidate for President of the United States.

I believe in an America where the family you're born into never controls your destiny.

I believe in that America because I've lived it. It's the reason I'm standing here today. I owe everything I am to the America I grew up in.

Everything I believe about our country - every value I learned in this town, every person I have fought for in my life, every idea I have learned along the way, has brought me here.

I am running for president because I have lived in the bright light of the blessing of America. I am running for President because the great gift of an equal chance is the greatest gift I know. I am running for President, because the greatness of America that has come before is nothing compared to the greatness of America that lies ahead.

It's right in front of us. I've seen it in the promise of every city and town I visit. I hear it in the voices of every man and woman I talk to.

Together, we can make their voices heard!!!

Together, we can make opportunity the birthright we all share!!!

Together, we can restore the promise of America!!!

God bless you. God bless the United States of America."

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Pete du Pont 1988 Announcement

Pete du Pont Announcement For The Presidency in Wilmington, Delaware on September 16, 1986.

"I want to talk with you today about the future of our country, and about how together, we might help shape that future.

As a nation we will soon be without the graceful, confident leadership of Ronald Reagan. Under his leadership, we've known what we stood for as a people and where we wanted to go as a nation. Sooner than we realize he will step down from the presidency; so we must begin to think about who will next lead this country, and in what direction.

One hundred eighty-seven years ago a man named Pierre Samuel du Pont and his two sons left France to find opportunity in a freer world. They and their descendants enjoyed that freedom and prospered with it. Today one of those descendants has been given another extraordinary opportunity. He has been allowed the privilege of dreaming to lead the nation his ancestors risked everything to join.

I'm sure old Pierre is smiling as he looks down from the heavens to hear his namesake say, yes, I am a candidate for the president of the United States of America.

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