Good morning members of the Draft Clark movement.  I thank you tremendously for all the encouragement and support you've given me over the last several months.  You've pushed and prodded, you've advertised, you've organized, and you've brought forth a movement that is transformational in scope.  I don't think, as I said, there's been anything this powerful in a long, long time in American politics.  Because you can reach out and you can pull someone like me, who's a retired military officer, back onto the scene of American public life and bring me to the consideration of running for the nation's highest office.

I'm going to announce this morning that I've accepted your draft, that I will seek to become the next president of the United States, and I'm deeply grateful to you for your support and for the encouragement that's brought me to this step.

But I also know that I can't go forward without your full, whole-hearted support.  The same energy that you've put into this movement before, we need now together to go forward.  We need to look at the problems that face America, the issues of the economy, of job creation, of our foreign policy, of winning the war on terror.  We need to bring those issues to the attention of the American people.  We need to mobilize the energy, the resources, the help it needs to carry this message in every state in our nation.  We need to raise a shout across this land.  We need to make a difference in American history.  We can do that together.

Now what I'm going to ask you to do is I'm going to ask you to stay involved, first.  Second, I'm going to ask you to reach out and bring one other person into this movement.  It's no longer going to be Draft Clark--that's over.  You succeeded--I'm drafted.  I'm in it.  But bring somebody else in it.  And for those of you that made pledges, please put the resources behind them.  This is the first requirement in moving ahead.  We've got to have financial resources.  And those of you who considered it but for some reason haven't been able to do it, please, you've got me, you've got me 100 percent in this race, now give me the help that I need so all  of us can succeed together.

We've got a dream to bring to America--a dream of living up to the promise of this great land, to fulfilling our responsibilities at home for educating our children, taking care of each other, developing the finest economy, the greatest job creation, the highest technology, the best living standards in the world, but we've got responsibilities abroad.  We've got world leadership responsibilities and people looking to us all across this globe for what we stand for, how we behave, and whether we make a net contribution to their interest(s?) and their security as well.  Let's join together.  Let's keep this movement going.  Let's work.

Now we're going to put together a conventional campaign.  We're going to make sure each and every one of you who wants to be involved in that campaign is, but I need your help.  Stay with us.  Bring someone else in and give us the resources we need to go forward.  Together we can do it.  We can achieve our goal, we can change the leadership, we can change the direction of American society.

Thank you for getting us started.  We've taken the first step.  Now let's move out on that journey.  Thank you.