Mark Warner has released a short video clip about the importance and opportunities of 2006. Take a look and if you agree that 2006 is critical year for Democrats, please come to the Forward Together PAC site and tell us how you plan to help Democrats win in 2006.
Governor Warner has been busy campaigning for Democrats across the country, including Francine Busby, Claire McCaskill, Harold Ford, Jr.
More from Governor Warner in the extended entry.
Here’s more from an email Governor Warner sent to supporters of the Forward Together PAC earlier today:
“2006 is going to be a critical year. Not only is the Congress at stake, but we’ve got 36 governorships, a series of state houses and local elections as well. And if we are going to be successful, Democrats have to be the party, this year, that lays out a progressive forward-looking agenda for our country.
“That’s what Forward Together is about this year: supporting those candidates who will be able to not only expand our Democratic family, but also pick up some of those disaffected Republicans and independents who are very scared by today’s Republican Party — a party that lacks fiscal discipline, that increasingly is being controlled by the social right-wing agenda.
“Democrats need to be the party that is for innovation and investment in education and providing greater access to affordable health care, the party that brings everyone forward together. There is a particular opportunity for us to reach out to rural America with a message of economic hope for areas that once carried our economy on their back, and now need new investment and educational outreach to succeed again in a global economy. If the Democratic Party can provide those ideas, we can take back the Congress, we can end up winning the majority of the governorships and that will set us up well for future elections.”
I plan on helping my country and the Democratic Party by doing everything I can to oppose and undermine these centrist hacks.
Let them go back to the Republican Party and take it back from the Birchers and Fundies that they handed it over to.
I think you should read Mark Warner’s “Why I am a Democrat” speech. Here’s an excerpt:
Now as you might guess, a lot of Republicans and Independents supported us. And since then, a lot of them have asked me, Mark – Why exactly are you a Democrat?
And I just smile. Because if you have to ask, you wouldn’t understand.
I am a Democrat because since Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence – and since Jackson spoke for the common man – our party has never been the party of the status quo.
Instead, we have been the ones to see a challenge – and do something about it. Let’s be honest – it hasn’t always worked perfectly. Sometimes it has gotten us in trouble. Sometimes it has split us apart. But sometimes, those are the wages of progress.
And yet, I am a Democrat because the greatest and most noble political experiments of our time had their birth in our party.
I am a Democrat because the New Deal literally saved the lives of hundreds of thousands of Americans.
I am a Democrat because a generation after a Democratic president started the Peace Corps, you can still find faded photographs of John F. Kennedy on the walls of homes from South Africa to South America.
I am a Democrat because fighting for working men and women is always the right fight.
I am a Democrat because our party led the struggle for civil rights and because we recognize that discrimination and bigotry are not dead – and that we must continue to seek equal opportunity for all.
I am a Democrat because despite our failures, our missteps, and our excesses – we know that waging a war on poverty does not mean fighting the individuals who are poor.
I am a Democrat because we know that today’s battle is about the future versus the past – and it’s time to put aside yesterday’s battles of us versus them.
I am a Democrat because we know that criticizing success won’t create a single job.
And most of all, I am a Democrat because when my three daughters go out into the world to make their lives, I want them to find a world where there’s less hopelessness – less selfishness – and less violence.
I want them to find a world where there is more opportunity – more understanding – and more hope.
That is the mission of this party.
That is what we work for.
That is why we get up every morning.
That is why we’re here tonight.
And our work is not done.
I’ve heard it. Sounds a lot like Clinton, the best Republican President this country has ever had. Pretty words, but little indication of anything other than the usual “free market” non-solutions to real problems, a complete unwillingness to speak out for civil liberties, for women’s autonomy, for a real discussion about the corrosive cancer of race relations in this country. He’s another warmed over DLC centrist. No thanks.
Nice speech though. Very pretty.