Don Fowler, co-chairman, Democratic National Committee

FOWLER: Before I get on with trying to make this speech. I want to say that I'm just having a great time. I couldn't be happier. I can't imagine how I could be happier.

I look at this audience and I see so many good friends both new and old, and I say thank you for the privilege. And I say to you, Mr. President, on the train and to you, Mr. Vice President, here in Chicago, thank you for the privilege of working for your re-election. I say to my family, my wife here and my son over here, and our daughter in Hawaii, thank you for your tolerance and support.

Seventy-one days from today, at polling places that stretch from the autumn chill of Maine to the warm sun of California, Americans will go to the poll and re-elect President Bill Clinton and Vice President Al Gore.

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On that November day, we will regain control of Congress, and Newt Gingrich will no longer sit in the speaker's chair.

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Dick Gephardt will be speaker of the United States House of Representatives. And Tom Daschle will be the majority leader in the United States Senate. Alfonse D'Amato will no longer chair the Senate Banking Committee.

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And Jesse Helms will no longer be in the Senate at all.

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We have the opportunity to do more good for our country on a single day, in a single election, in one season of campaign, than any moment in our modern history. Never has there been so much for Democrats to gain, and so much for a Democratic president and a Democratic Congress to do for the hard-working Americans who are the strength and soul of our party.

But we do not run just to oppose others. We offer new ideas -- ideas that are responsive to our time, yet rooted in our history. Our founder, Thomas Jefferson, set a fixed star in the constellation of our value system. A free, public education for all our citizens.

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Our second founder, Andrew Jackson, taught us our responsibility as a party to common people -- the working and middle-class families whom we fight so hard for in this day and in this year.

FOWLER: Early in this century, Woodrow Wilson taught us that we live in a global community. If we shrink from that community and that obligation and opportunity, we weaken ourselves and mankind.

The issues change, but three defining values still guide our cause -- opportunity, responsibility and community.

We as Democrats have embodied those values. We transformed America with Franklin Roosevelt. We stopped aggression with Harry Truman. We took up the great cause of civil rights with John Kennedy. We lifted up the nation with Lyndon Johnson. And we stood for human rights around the world with Jimmy Carter.

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Now it is our turn. We have 10 weeks to go. From Bangor and San Diego, to Seattle and Key West, to Duluth and Brownsville, we Democrats must organize, walk, work and persuade.

From the White House to Congress, to state and local offices, we can win and we must win -- not just for victory, but to save college loans, to protect health care for the elderly, to preserve a clean environment, to enact fair tax policies, to keep 100,000 new police on the street, to add more jobs to the 10 million already added in this four years, and to secure a rising standard of living for all Americans.

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For 20 months, Chris Dodd and I, together, have chaired this party. We have sought to reshape our systems and organization. We have extended our outreach to assure the most successful campaign in Democratic Party history. I believe we are ready.

The credit for this goes not to the two of us, but to others -- the most capable and dedicated group of state chairs I have ever known, the talented, spirited and tireless staff at the Democratic National Committee and the Gore -- and the Clinton-Gore Re-elect Committee, and most important of all to an awakening of the spirit of adventure and commitment for Democrats all across America.

Our coordinated campaigns are staffed. Our fundraising is unprecedented. Our capacity to communicate our message has never been greater. And our message has never been more on target.

Yes, we are ready. We are ready to defeat the Dole-Kemp-Gingrich ticket. We have...

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They have led the Republican Party on a relentless march to the past.

FOWLER: Look at the Dole-Gingrich legislative agenda. They tried to mug health care for the elderly by reducing benefits and raising premiums for Medicare.

They tried to increase taxes on working families earning less than $28,000 a year. They did damage, or tried to do damage to the Clean Air and Clean Water Act, endangering the health of every American.

In education, they found to take Head Start from five-year-olds, school lunches from 10-year-olds, summer jobs from 15-year-olds, and college loans from 20-year-olds.

They tried to do all of these things, but they were not successful because President Clinton said, "No." Not once, not twice, but three times, President Clinton said, you will not do this to our country.

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They persisted, and he prevented the enactment of the most reactionary legislative program in modern history.

We have seen the negative, divisive message of the Republican leadership in Congress. And that message is not America.

President Clinton has offered a different and far more powerful vision -- a vision of hope and change, of faith in the American people, of help for our families and aspiration for our future. It is a vision for the 21st century, and that is why Bill Clinton is, and will be our president.

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Nearly 50 years ago, Harry Truman went to another great Democratic city, Philadelphia, to accept the nomination of this great party. In his acceptance speech, he said, "We are going to win this election, and make the Republicans like it, and don't you forget it."

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Let that be our purpose and cause at this convention and in the weeks to come. With the help of millions of our fellow citizens all across America, we will re-elect Bill Clinton president of the United States.

Thank you very much.

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END