Dean: Large turnout good for Democrats (radio address)

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Source: Associated Press

Democratic Party Chairman Howard Dean said Saturday the large turnout for the Iowa caucuses indicates Americans are looking for a Democrat to run the White House in 2008, but he added that the party still has to work to make that happen.

"Republicans may not know how to govern, but they have made it clear time and again they will do anything to win and hold on to power," said Dean in his party's weekly radio address.

Dean referred to alleged Republican schemes to interfere in past elections, including a 2002 phone jamming incident in New Hampshire, which is set to hold its presidential primaries Tuesday. A former national Republican Party official was convicted on federal telephone harassment charges in December 2005 over the jamming of state Democratic Party get-out-the-vote phone banks on Election Day 2002. An appeals court later overturned that conviction and sent the case back to a lower court.

Dean, who ran in the 2004 presidential election and was a distant third in the Iowa caucuses, also accused Republicans of voter intimidation in 2004 and using "immigration and race as a wedge to win elections instead of working with all Americans to solve problems."

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080105/ap_po/democrats2008_1

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Dean: Americans Trust Democrats to Restore America's Greatness
http://www.dnc.org/a/2008/01/dean_americans_4.php

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1. Transcript of Radio Address:

Transcript of Radio Address:

Good morning. I'm Governor Howard Dean, Chairman of the Democratic National Committee.

This week, Iowans came out in droves to caucus for Democrats. After months of growing enthusiasm for our candidates who drew big crowds, and broke all fundraising records, nearly 230,000 Independents, Republicans, and Democrats braved frigid temperatures to bring our America back to greatness.

This incredible support is a testament to the strength of the message and the vision our candidates offer America. We offer a real change, a commitment to the American values of freedom, fairness, and facing the future; and an end to seven years of Republican rule marked by deficits, divisiveness and dishonesty.

The Republican candidates stand for the past. They support the President's war in Iraq, the President's veto of children's health care, and they support an endless charge card mentality which our children and grandchildren will pay the bill for. The Democrats stand for the future of our country. And the message this November will be clear.

If you want to get out of Iraq and refocus America's priorities to really fight terrorism, vote for a Democrat for president. If you want to ensure that all Americans get affordable health care, vote for a Democrat for president. If you want to establish fiscal discipline again so our children and grandchildren don't have to pay for the recklessness of unbalanced budgets, vote for a Democrat for president. And if you agree that it is a moral responsibility to leave the world a better place for our children and grandchildren, vote for a Democrat for president. And if you believe that we need to restore American moral authority in the world and at home, elect a Democratic president.

While the differences between the Democrats and Republicans couldn't be more dramatic, we know that it's going to take a lot of hard work over the next 11 months to ensure that we elect a Democratic president.

Republicans may not know how to govern, but they have made it clear time and again they will do anything to win and hold on to power. They used criminal phone jamming scheme in New Hampshire in 2002, voter intimidation in Ohio in 2004 where voters were forced to wait eight hours to vote, and fired their own United States attorneys when they sought to protect the right to vote. Republicans have divided our country by using immigration and race as a wedge to win elections instead of working with all Americans to solve problems.

Republicans have put their party ahead of our country, and now 230,000 Iowans have said, "We'll change that."

It's time for a change. It's time for us to come together and restore America's greatness. This election year, every American has the chance to be a part of bringing the change we so desperately need.

This week in Iowa we saw the process shift away from pollster's predictions to the voters finally having their say. And what they said loud and clear is that Americans trust Democrats to restore America. They do not want a third Bush term. We have the strongest field of Democratic candidates I've seen in my life time and no matter which one becomes the democratic nominee, our party will be unified in making sure they become president next November.

And the Democrats will reach out to all Americans including those who have disagreed with us in the past and those who will disagree with us in the future. It's time to heal America to restore our strength and our moral purpose.

We have a lot of hard work to do in the next 11 months. I hope Americans of all political stripes will join us in helping to elect a Democratic president and expand our majorities in Congress.

By electing a Democratic president, we can not only begin to renew the American people's trust in our government but also restore American moral authority in the world. By electing a Democratic president, we can return to America's values, fulfilling our obligation to care for our nation's children, returning to an era of fiscal responsibility and bringing our country back together again.

I'm Governor Howard Dean, Chairman of the Democratic National Committee, wishing all Americans a Happy New Year. Thank you so much for listening.

[Habibi]

2. *sigh*

God, I love that man.