Kerry/Edwards Data

John KerryAmerican Civil Liberties Union : Focus

Senator John Kerry (D-MA)
4th-term Democrat from Massachusetts.
http://kerry.senate.gov

Background Information
Party: Democrat
Residence: Boston, MA
Marital Status: Married (Teresa Heinz Kerry)
Prev. Occupation: Attorney
Prev. Political Exp.: MA Lt. Governor, 1982-84; US Senate, 1984-present
Education: BA Yale University, 1966; JD Boston College, 1976
Military: USN, 1966-70
Birthdate: 12/11/1943
Birthplace: Denver, CO
Religion: Catholic
Other Information
Term: 4th
First Elected: 1984

John EdwardsAmerican Civil Liberties Union : Focus

Senator John Edwards (D-NC)
1st-term Democrat from North Carolina.
http://edwards.senate.gov

Background Information
Party: Democrat
Residence: Raleigh, NC
Marital Status: Married (Elizabeth)
Prev. Occupation: Attorney
Prev. Political Exp.: US Senate, 1998-present
Education: BS North Carolina State University, 1974; JD University of North Carolina, 1977
Birthdate: 06/10/1953
Birthplace: Seneca, SC
Religion: Methodist
Other Information
Term: 1st
First Elected: 1998

ACLU and congress.org provide some data, including recent votes. mjh

Sharpton Had Something Important to Say

Sharpton didn’t get much coverage, except to say that he departed from his

script and roused the crowd. His prepared speech is worth reading, but his departures are also important. mjh

Full text of Al Sharpton’s

[scripted] DNC speech Rocky Mountain News: Election

Tonight, we stand with those freedoms at risk and our security as citizens in

question. I have come here tonight to say, that the only choice we have to protect and preserve our freedoms at this point in history

is the election of John Kerry as the president of the United States.

I stood with both John Kerry and John Edwards on over 30

occasions during the primary season. I debated them. I watched them. I observed their deeds. I am convinced that they are men who say

what they mean and mean what they say.

I am also convinced that at a time, when there is a vicious spirit in the body politic of

this country that attempts to undermine America’s freedoms — our civil rights, and civil liberties — we must leave this city and go

forth and organize this nation toward victory for John Kerry and John Edwards in November. This is not just about winning an election,

it’s about preserving the principles upon which this nation was founded.

We are also faced with the prospect, in the next

four years, that two or more of the Supreme Court Justice seats will become available. This year, as we celebrated the anniversary of

Brown vs. the Board of Education, this court voted 5 to 4 on critical issues of women’s rights and civil rights. It is frightening to

think that the gains of the civil and women’s rights movements of the last century could be reversed if this administration sits in the

White House for four more years.

This is not about a party. It is about living up to the promise of America.

Ex-Kerry rivals rouse the crowd By Marc Humbert,

The Associated Press

[In his unscripted remarks, he] repeatedly slammed the Republican administration.

”Mr. President, the

reason we are fighting so hard, the reason we took Florida so seriously, is our right to vote wasn’t gained because of our age,”

Sharpton said. ”Our vote was soaked in the blood of martyrs, soaked in the blood of (civil rights activists) Goodman, Chaney and

Schwerner, soaked in the blood of four little girls in Birmingham. This vote is sacred to us. This vote can’t be bargained away. This

vote can’t be given away.

”In all due respect, Mr. President, read my lips: Our vote is not for sale.”

He drew one of the

biggest responses when he said: ”The issue of government is not to determine who may sleep together in the bedroom, it’s to help

those that might not be eating in the kitchen.”

BET.com – Sharpton’s Long Speech Left Them Jumping for Joy

and Wanting More

”Mr. President, you said would we have more leverage if both parties got our votes, but we didn’t come this

far playing political games,” Sharp said, referring to Bush’s recent remarks to African Americans at the National Urban League.

”It was those that earned our vote that got our vote. We got the Civil Rights Act under a Democrat. We got the Voting Rights Act

under a Democrat. We got the right to organize under Democrats.”

Atlanta Daily World

For the past 30 years, African-Americans have given at least 80 percent of their vote – 90 percent in 2000 – to the Democratic

nominee for president. The more the GOP has veered to the right, the less successful it has been in appealing to Black voters. Bush

was elected with 8 percent of the African-American vote in 2000, the lowest percentage since the 1964 campaign of Arizona Sen. Barry

Goldwater.

Sharpton Had Something Important to Say

Full text of Al Sharpton’s DNC speech

We are also faced with the prospect, in the next four years, that two or more of the Supreme Court Justice seats will become available. This year, as we celebrated the anniversary of Brown vs. the Board of Education, this court voted 5 to 4 on critical issues of women’s rights and civil rights. It is frightening to think that the gains of the civil and women’s rights movements of the last century could be reversed if this administration sits in the White House for four more years.

This is not about a party. It is about living up to the promise of America.

Atlanta Daily World

For the past 30 years, African-Americans have given at least 80 percent of their vote – 90 percent in 2000 – to the Democratic nominee for president. The more the GOP has veered to the right, the less successful it has been in appealing to Black voters. Bush was elected with 8 percent of the African-American vote in 2000, the lowest percentage since the 1964 campaign of Arizona Sen. Barry Goldwater.

More Good from Kerry’s Speech

TheNewMexicoChannel.com – Commitment 2004 – Text Of John

Kerry’s Address To DNC

I will be a commander in chief who will never mislead us into war. I will have a vice president who will

not conduct secret meetings with polluters to rewrite our environmental laws. I will have a secretary of Defense who will listen to the

best advice of our military leaders. And I will appoint an Attorney General who actually upholds the Constitution of the United States.

My fellow Americans, this is the most important election of our lifetime. The stakes are high.

Kerry’s Speech, Yours and Mine

The following are my favorite parts of

Kerry’s speech. You can follow the link to the full text. mjh

The complete text of Kerry’s acceptance speech

Now I know there are those who criticize me for seeing complexities — and I do — because some issues just aren’t all that simple.

For us, that flag is the most powerful symbol of who we are and what we believe in. Our strength. Our diversity. Our love of

country. All that makes America both great and good.

That flag doesn’t belong to any president. It doesn’t belong to any ideology

and it doesn’t belong to any political party. It belongs to all the American people. …

We believe that what matters most is not

narrow appeals masquerading as values, but the shared values that show the true face of America. Not narrow appeals that divide us, but

shared values that unite us. …

And let me say it plainly: In that cause, and in this campaign, we welcome people of faith. America

is not us and them. I think of what Ron Reagan said of his father a few weeks ago, and I want to say this to you tonight: I don’t wear

my own faith on my sleeve. But faith has given me values and hope to live by, from Vietnam to this day, from Sunday to Sunday. I don’t

want to claim that God is on our side. As Abraham Lincoln told us, I want to pray humbly that we are on God’s side. …

These

aren’t Democratic values. These aren’t Republican values. They’re American values. We believe in them. They’re who we are. …

What if we have a president who believes in science … ? …

That is the kind of America I will lead as president — an America

where we are all in the same boat.

Never has there been a more urgent moment for Americans to step up and define ourselves. I will

work my heart out. But, my fellow citizens, the outcome is in your hands more than mine.

I do have two objections. First,

what about those of us who believe you can be decent and moral and not believe in god or church? We’re used to be left out; we’re

pariahs in a nation founded on freedom from religious oppresion — oh, but wait, not freedom from religion itself.

Finally, I’m very

sad that I didn’t hear anyone at the convention protest the ‘free speech cage’. That not one ‘liberal’ would say ‘tear down that

cage — America is a free speech zone!’ This is how bad things are today. mjh