I see my mayor is here, Jane Campbell from Cleveland; hi mayor.

Fellow Democrats, we gather here today united in purpose not only to replace an administration which lied to take the American people and this nation to war, but to continue our efforts to create a Democratic Party so strong in its commitment to the people of this nation that nothing--not the theft of an election in Florida, not the corrupt redistricting in Texas, not even the rotten recall effort in California--will deter us from our work to reclaim America, to renew America, to restore America.

It is our task not only to win the White House, but to win the House of Representatives and the Senate.  It is up to us, it is up to us to create a basis for a Democratic sweep.  This is what we all want.  How can we achieve it?

As co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, the largest caucus within the Democratic Party, and as the ranking Democrat on the National Security Subcommittee on Government Oversight, I've been at the center of many important debates, none more central to this nation and the world that the debate over Iraq.

When our Democratic leadership failed to challenge the president, I led the Democratic effort in the House against the Bush administration's march towards war, resulting in 126 Democrats voting against the war.

Now someone once stood before you and said we're the Democrats.  Keep in mind that nearly two-thirds of our caucus went against our own leadership and voted against the war.  I believe and I believed that we truly represented the feelings of millions of Americans who were skeptical of the reasons for this country going to war.  No one else, no one in this race for the Democratic nomination, actually organized against the war both in the Congress and around the nation or persistently challenged the Bush administration's attempts to tie Iraq to 9/11 or put the lie to the Bush administration's claims about Iraq's alleged weapons of mass destruction.

Of the members of Congress in this race only Senator Graham and I voted against the war.  No other members of Congress voted against the war, against money for the occupation, nor have they yet said they'll join me in voting against the $87 billion.  Nor, nor did they join me in speaking out against and voting against the now widely despised Patriot Act.

Now I say this, fellow Democrats, not to disparage any candidate.  But I ask, how can you run alongside President Bush in war and at the same time run against him demanding peace?  I say that it is time to bring home the troops.  It is time, it is time to get the UN in and the US out of Iraq.  It is time, it is time to go to the Security Council with a plan which first calls for the United Nations to handle the collection and distribution of all oil revenues for the Iraqi people with no privatization.

Second, second, let the UN handle the awarding of all contracts.  No more Halliburton sweetheart deals.  No more war profiteering by Republican contributors and Bush administration cronies.

Third, let the United Nations work to create conditions for Iraqi self-governance.

It is time for the United States to rejoin the world community in the interest of international security.  Every day we pay to stay longer, we stand on the rubble of the lies of the Bush administration--lies about 9/11 and Iraq, lies about nuclear weapons capability and Iraq, lies about weapons of mass destruction and Iraq.  Let the American people know the truth.  The truth shall set us free, free from U.S. occupation of Iraq and free from the Bush administration's occupation of the White House.

Soon voices will cry out across the land and millions will march in the streets demanding that our troops be brought home.  A majority of Americans want our troops home.  Yet some, who are currently called leading candidates in this race, are calling for us to stay the course--don't cut and run--and thereby exposing our troops to more danger, our nation to more jeopardy, our budget to greater deficits, our international standing to more condemnation, and this I submit, fellow Democrats, has consequences for our party.

In 2002, for the first time in 40 years, the party out of power in an off-year election failed to gain seats in the Congress.  I submit that this was due directly to our leadership's failure to challenge the president on the war.  I believe that when the Democrats show up, the people show up.  And they will show up in 2004 and elect a Democratic president and a Democratic Congress when we show up to challenge the lies and to challenge the war.

My candidacy provides not only the credibility and the means to challenge and to rally our core constituents against the Bush administration's fraudulent international policy, but also to rally our core constituents in favor of getting out of NAFTA and the WTO.  NAFTA and the WTO have cost our nation millions of manufacturing jobs and have helped to amass a $435 billion trade deficit.  Now I have long been a leader in Congress in recognizing that trade agreements which do not have workers' rights, human rights or environmental quality principles jeopardize American workers and jeopardize American jobs and jeopardize workers everywhere.

The sad fact is that NAFTA cannot be fixed; it cannot be amended.  Any conditions put on NAFTA are illegal under the WTO.  The WTO does not permit Congress to pass buy-American laws.  Global water corporations are hoping to use the WTO to privatize municipal water systems under theory that municipal water systems constitute an unfair competitive advantage.  They're trying, get this, they're trying to privatize water.  And the Free Trade Agreement for the Americas calls for the privatization, calls for the privatization of public services.

We must remember where we came from.  We Democrats are the party of workers; we're the party of those who worked to put an end to child labor, slave labor and prison labor.  We must become the party of fair trade.  We must cancel NAFTA and the WTO and return to bilateral trade conditioned on workers' rights, human rights and environmental quality principles.  This is a copy, this is a copy of the Texas Republican Party platform.  In it they call for the repeal of NAFTA and the WTO.  If the Texas Republican Party can call for the repeal of NAFTA and the WTO in their platform so can we.

If we have a fair trade program, if we have a solid jobs program, if we have a solid health care program we can and we will win.  In 2000 I went to the platform committee of our party with a resolution for single-payer universal health care.  Now there are 45 million Americans without health insurance; millions of Americans are held captive by a system which causes them to pay a high premium for increasingly limited services and access.  Premiums are up nearly 50 percent in three years; co-pays are up; deductibles are up; workers' health care benefits are being cut.  More and more Americans are being pushed towards poverty by a profit-based health care system   It is time to move towards health care for people not for profit.

It is time, it is time for Democrats, it is time for Democrats to join the cause of our core constituents--the poor, working poor, middle income Americans, labor, students and seniors and create real change, universal health care--Medicare for all, covering everyone from cradle to grave, covering all medically necessary services, covering complementary and alternative medicine, dental care, mental health care, vision care, long term health care, prescription drug benefits--only this will lift Americans from a system which is putting more people into bankruptcy, and into poverty and into hopelessness.

Finally, as I travel across America with this message, many people say to me, Mr. Chairman, they say, you sound like a Democrats' Democrat, but, but can you win?

Here's why, here's why that answer is yes.  My candidacy will bring blue-collar Democrats back to our party, the so-called Reagan Democrats.  I can also unite the 50 million Gore voters with the 3 million Nader voters.  My candidacy will rally traditional Democrats, as well as Greens on the environment, Natural Law Party members on sustainability, Libertarians on civil rights and the Patriot Act, and Reform Party members on trade.

I come from America's heartland, a state, Ohio, with 20 electoral votes.  I defeated Republicans to be elected Mayor of Cleveland, State Senator and U.S. Congressman.  I'm a former big city mayor who has a record of challenging corrupt corporate interests when they tried to take over our city's public power system.

I take a stand and I do not falter and that's what this election is about.  It is about our party's willingness to stand up, to speak out, to defend the public interest, to secure our nation, to protect the peace, to save and create jobs, to protect the health of the American people.  Let us Democrats be the ones who restore the visionary dream, who recapture the glory of our founding principles of liberty, equality and freedom for all, principles which will come once again when the power of a new day dawns, thundering up on the horizon, bringing hope, optimism, a sense of joy--a new day for America.  Thank you.