Last night I spoke to nearly 30 million Americans on television. Now I am writing to you, asking for your help, your time, and your commitment.
I need you to join me now for the sake of our country. I need you to work with me and the Democratic Party, hand-in-hand from wherever you live, in whatever community or family you are helping to lead. This is going to be one of the toughest elections ever, and we will need every one of you.
That's why I'm asking you to donate generously to the Democratic Party. The party has been preparing to beat Bush and elect Democrats for four years. The party is stronger than ever, and is running the largest grassroots mobilizing effort in history, determined that our candidates will have the financial and organizational muscle needed to win.
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I remember the first meeting in the headquarters of my first campaign for Congress in 1972 very clearly. All of my supporters -- all 30 of them! -- were gathered in one place for the first time. There were buddies from college and from Vietnam, and there were people I had never seen before in my life, people who simply knew it was time for a change, and wanted to do something about it.
I took a deep breath and struggled to explain why a 28 year-old just back from war should -- and could -- make a difference in Washington. I thought I was there to convince them. But it dawned on me that they were the ones convincing me. These were people who had families, jobs and classes -- and yet they were signing up for double shifts phone banking and door knocking. For most, it was their first campaign, and yet it was many of their ideas that enabled us to shock everyone by winning a fierce primary.
Last night I began my general election campaign for president. And now I feel like I am back at that first campaign meeting again. Only this time, I am not talking to 30 initial supporters in a tiny store front office, but to millions of online activists across the country.
Some of you, again, are old friends. Most of you I've never met in person. But it's you who have convinced me that this is a campaign we can win -- no matter how many forces are assembled against us. When I decided to run for president almost a year ago, I never imagined how big this campaign would become -- or how determined people like you would be to stand up to George Bush and lead America in a new direction. George Bush has raised $220 million dollars -- for his primary campaign alone. He spent much of that money to try to mislead Americans about my record and my life.
But those of you who joined my campaign early on, or who supported the Democratic Party, stepped forward to do something that's never happened in presidential politics before: you went toe-to-toe with the special interests, toe-to-toe with Bush's 924 "Pioneer" and "Ranger" corporate fundraisers. You enabled us to campaign just as aggressively and just as broadly as George Bush. Without you, we'd have our backs to the wall and people would be talking about our campaign and the party being no match for a strong, heavily-funded Bush/GOP juggernaut. Instead, we're kicking off the general election from a position of incredible strength. Nothing like this has ever happened before.
We have got 14 weeks until Election Day. It's hard to fathom just how much we're up against. When we talk about building a stronger America and putting ordinary people back in the driver's seat of politics, we know powerful special interests will be working to stop us.
But there's a guaranteed way we can win this: take a leap of faith, throw out every last shred of cynicism, and believe in one another. That's what winning campaigns are all about -- a group of people believing in themselves and acting on that belief. Do the math: there are more than three million of you receiving this email. If each of you recruits just three friends to help, then we'll have nine million voices to talk to the 55 million people we need to win the election.
All of you came to this campaign or to the party and contributed or volunteered because you care deeply about what's happening to our country. I know that every one of you, if you believed it would make the difference, would give just a little more to this campaign and the party between now and the election.
Well, I'm telling you: if you give a few hours to the campaign, or a few dollars to the Democratic Party, that will be the difference. Isn't that what we learned four years ago when 537 votes decided everything?
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This campaign has been nothing but remarkable so far. But you haven't seen anything yet. We'll mobilize the vote for a stronger America in every single community. That's what we've got to do to win this.
So again, I'll repeat: I need you to join me for the sake of this country. There's too much work to be done, and there's too much at stake.
Are you with us?
Thank you,
John Kerry
