Democratic Convention
Augusta Civic Center
June 3, 2006
Just look at you, all of you. You're beautiful. We're going to do it, aren't we? We're going to take our country back.

We're going to stop this insane war in Iraq. We're going to bring back stability, open government, the rule of law. We're going to start putting our financial house in order.

We're going to strike the balance laid out in our rulebook. This rulebook, the U.S. Constitution. It tells us how to form a more perfect union.

Establish Justice - Human rights, civil rights, Judges without political agendas. NOT Guantanamo Bay detention camps, or secret CIA prisons in foreign countries.

Insure domestic tranquility - A healthy environment, harmonious communities. A Department of Peace.

Provide for the common defense - DE-fense, not OF-fense.
No more regime changes, No more preemptive strikes, BRING OUR TROOPS HOME NOW!
Stop them from being targets for the snipers, and the roadside bombs.

But also, get them out of the way, so they won't be there if Iran decides to call George Bush's bluff, and sends its huge army across the border into Iraq, headed right for the Green Zone.

Instead, let's have well-regulated militias. National Guard troops under the authority of state governors. Enough of a military to deflect any REAL threat.

But also, an agriculture policy aimed at feeding ourselves. An energy policy that moves us away from fossil fuels and toward solar, wind, hydro, tidal power. And, fuels like ethanol and bio-diesel, that can be made from annual crops. Windmills or war, take your pick.

Promote the general welfare - With national single payer health care, including family planning and choices for all women. Secure pensions and Social Security - without offsets. Good public education for everyone through college. The No Child Left Behind Act should be left behind.

Secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our posterity - Secure elections on paper ballots. Respect for our individual freedoms, and the right to marry ANYONE we want to marry. Get the government out of our private lives! No NSA wiretaps, no data mining, no warrant-less searches and seizures, no taps on reporters' phones, no threats of financial ruin for government whistle-blowers.

Here is the rulebook, folks. The Constitution of the United States of America.

So, we've got the rulebook. Now, where's that level playing field?
How about over there, in the corner with all the tax breaks are for the rich?
No?
How about over there, with Halliburton and its no-bid contracts for Iraq and Katrina?
No?
How about over there in the Justice Department, where they're drowning in secret documents the Bush Administration doesn't want the American public to see?
No?
How about over there, where NAFTA and CAFTA, and the WTO are getting ready to welcome the country of Oman into the Free Trade fold?
No?
How about over there, in Medicare Part D, where we're not allowed to negotiate with the drug companies for lower prices? Oh, Hi there, Olympia!

No level playing field? Anywhere? Well! We're just going to have to make us some.

How about we cancel those obscene tax cuts for the rich, Then we tax unearned income from stocks and bonds the same as Earned Income, you know, the money that shows up in your paycheck. If you still get a paycheck.

Make the minimum wage what it was at the start -- a living wage.

We join the other industrialized nations of the world, and get us some national health care. It's doable. It's affordable. It's time.

But none of this will happen as long as the Bush administration is in power and as long as the Republicans hold the cards in Congress. So here's where you come in. Here's where WE come in.

People are waking up. More and more folks are joining us, admitting we were right, that the current President of the United States cannot be trusted. That George W. Bush has lied to us OVER and OVER and OVER again. That he actually has NO compassion - NONE. That he has NO sense of history, NO understanding of complexity or diplomacy, and no comprehension that he is leading this nation down the path to destruction.

He just knows that he is the President, that he can do whatever he wants, and that Congress is going to let him get away with it. 750 signing statements, indeed.

I have long called for impeachment proceedings to begin. Not only against George W. Bush, but also Dick Cheney.

THIS YEAR, we need to replace six Republican Senators with Democrats. THIS YEAR, in Maine, one of those Republican Senators WILL BE Olympia Snowe.

We need a Democrat who can win against Olympia Snowe this fall. A Democrat with backbone. Someone with a long history of speaking truth to power.

In case you hadn't figured it out already, I AM THAT PERSON.

You know me. You know I was born in Ohio, that my dad worked in a steel mill.

You know me. From my homesteading and farming days in Hancock County in the 70s and 80s. From my reporting days at the Bangor Daily News. From my political columns and environmental activism. From my work as a staffer for Congressman Tom Andrews. And from my prior political campaigns.

I win this primary, and I will be Olympia Snowe's first woman opponent in her entire 28 years in Congress. For the first time, Olympia Snowe will face someone who is actually stronger than she is on women's issues.

That's when Olympia Snowe's other votes come into sharp focus - On the Iraq War, the Patriot Act, the Bankruptcy Bill, minimum wage, class action lawsuits, denial of habeas corpus, Judge Alito, and now, her authorship of the bill that would legalize Bush's wiretapping of American citizens.

Olympia Snowe is not a moderate. She is now a Bush-enabler.

This is our only chance this year to make a difference in the U.S. Senate. Now is the time. And I am the person in this particular race.

I'm asking for your vote, in the June primary and again in November. It's not just a vote for me. It's a vote for the America we all want to live in.

Thank you.