I want to thank Artur Davis, who has been my dear friend, for stepping out here today and taking the leadership role to help us do the right thing for the party and the country. He is joined by several other members of Congress, who unfortunately couldn’t be here today: Congressman Ben Chandler from Kentucky, Congressman Adam Smith from Washington, Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez from California, and former Governor Tony Knowles of Alaska, all of whom will be joining Artur in endorsing my candidacy today.
What unites all of those people is that they have all run and won in the toughest places in the country, and the reason that they’re standing with me is because they know that that kind of spirit, that grit that we need if we’re going to win again is what the Democratic Party has to be, and I’m very grateful for their support today.
I also want to thank my wife, who’s here, who without her love and support over all these years has made NDN possible and this candidacy possible. I wish that Jed and Will, our two boys, were here also.
There’s a whole bunch of people here today that have been a critical part of everything I’ve done in recent years. As I said to the staff this morning, this is going to be a team effort. I may be the lead but we always work as a team and I’ve been very blessed to have remarkably good people as part of this over the last eight years and going forward in the next six weeks.
I’m here today to announce that I am going to run – that I am running to be the next chairman of the Democratic National Committee. I am running to help lead the Democrats in meeting the challenges of the 21st century head on and to build a strong, vibrant, confident and winning party once again.
Of all the candidates in this race, I believe that I have that important combination of vision, experience and passion that’s needed to lead the Democratic Party forward - and to build it from the grassroots up to the state and local parties, and up to Washington so that we can be one national party, fighting and winning in all 50 states each and every day.
This is no ordinary time for Democrats. Our country faces new and daunting economic and foreign policy challenges. Our party faces a Republican Party better organized and more powerful than it’s been in 70 years, and our people face a government controlled by a cadre of radical Republicans whose policies have made America less prosperous, less safe and less free. And as this is no ordinary time, our response as Democrats must be extraordinary, for if we continue doing what we’ve been doing over the past generations, we will not win. Those people who are looking for a party to fight for them will have no champion and our country will continue on its current path of drift and decline.
If we are to win again as Democrats we must adopt a different and better path and we must do three things and do them well. First is we must create a new agenda, a new vision, a new argument that embraces the very best of what it means to be a Democrat, that makes the word “Democrat” work in all 50 states. The word “Democrat” needs to be something that we run to, not run from in the next four years, and that, as Artur said, inspires the American people around the key themes of opportunity, security and the core values that we represent.
Next is that we must build a new infrastructure. With billions of dollars of investments over the last two generations the Republicans have built a superior political machine to what we have today. I call it an information age Tammany Hall. They have invested in building media organizations like Fox and Rush Limbaugh. They’ve invested in over 80 think tanks and they have superior political organizations. We need both a long-term and short-term strategy to take on this machine. Long term we have to invest hundreds of millions of dollars in modernizing our infrastructure, and short term we have to begin with our highest short-term priority, which is building the state parties from the ground up.
Next we need a new vision for our community. The passion that exploded in our party over the last two years is something that we must build on in the years ahead. Millions of Americans went to work every day as partners in our fight and not just donors to our cause. We have to recognize how the Internet and the passion of Americans are fundamentally changing American politics. And when we think of the DNC in the years ahead and the Democratic Party, I hope that we don’t think of 447 people but we think of millions of Americans going to work every day to make their country a better place. That’s a better vision of what a Democratic community can be.
And above all, it is my experience that makes me qualified to be the next chair. I have made a career of helping Democrats win in the tough places and in investing in a new and more modern party. Over my 20 years I have raised tens of millions of dollars for Democrats. I have a deep and broad experience in the media business. I have produced powerful media in both English and Spanish that has promoted the Democratic brand in tough states like Alaska, Colorado, Arizona, Kentucky, Florida, New Mexico and Oklahoma. I have produced compelling in-depth strategy and message memos, which helped frame the tough issue environment of the last few years. And along with Rob Stein and many others we have helped launch a new community of investors who will be working hard to modernize the infrastructure of our party in the years ahead.
I wrote and released a comprehensive agenda for our party called “A Commitment to Hope and Progress” that I think embodies the very best of what it means to be a Democrat. I’ve supported hundreds of candidates at all levels of government in almost all 50 states, particularly those hard races in the tough places. I’ve worked on the ground in 12 different states over two long winning presidential primary campaigns and helped build the Clinton war room in 1992, and I’ve worked with all parts of the party, from liberals to conservatives, all over this country to build winning electoral coalitions.
I have served, as many of you know, as regular and prominent spokesperson for the Democratic Party and I became an early champion of the emerging Internet culture and the power of one-to-one marketing and narrowcasting that is going to be so critical to our success in the years ahead.
I am running for chairman of the Democratic Party because I want to restore the greatness of our party. Our history is so proud. When the Depression sapped the vitality of this remarkable nation, we led the country back to prosperity and progress. When fascism and communism challenged our liberties, we led the fight for freedom. When the world was ravaged by war, we grabbed broken countries by their neck and helped their people stand up again. When injustice and racism crippled the lives of our fellow men and women, we led the fight for justice and equality.
This proud past inspires me each day to imagine what we can do in the years ahead together. Imagine an America where all Democrats stand proud because all Americans look to us, the party, to make America more prosperous, more secure and more free. Imagine a time in the not-too-distant future when George Bush puts up a Supreme Court justice that wants to roll back the rights this party has fought for, and we have organizations in all 50 states that are ready to stand and fight. Imagine a party, when the other side raises $50 million to wage a campaign to privatize Social Security, that is able to go online, raise double that amount, and defeat this irresponsible plan. Imagine a party that is proud of who it is and what we believe and has the confidence and faith to stand for what is right and works to make the word “Democrat” something to run to, not to run from. Imagine a party that is talking to America not just in English, but in Spanish, and sees the exurbs, the South and rural America not as places to run from, but as places in which to run and win. Imagine a party that doesn’t take its base for granted but is fighting for every voter every day and talking with our truest supporters and organizing them to rejuvenate our parties all over the nation. And imagine a party on Election Day where the day after we aren’t offering excuses, but instead claiming victories.
Over the next four years, if we can do these things, we can restore the great promise of our great country, we can transcend the small differences among us, we can find common ground, and build a modern, 21st century Democratic Party, and once again, give those who need fighting for a party capable of fighting for them.
I am ready to move this party forward. I am ready to lead. I am ready to rise up to the great conservative challenge before us, and I am ready to win.