Al Franken, the Democratic U.S. Senate candidate, held a rally in the State Captiol Rotunda this morning and delivered what his campaign calls a “major speech defining the issues of this campaign.”

Here is the full text of Franken’s prepared remarks. (Tomorrow, Republican Sen. Norm Coleman kicks off his reelection campaign.)

First of all, I’d like to thank all of you who are standing here with me in this beautiful room for standing with me in this important fight.

And if any of you haven’t met Franni yet, please meet my secret weapon. And if this secret’s out, meet the next one, my daughter Thomasin.

Something is happening all over this state. You saw it on Caucus Night, when over 215,000 DFLers showed up to say they’re ready for a new direction, even if it means they have to hang out in a hot, crowded room for a few hours.

And you’re seeing it here today.

I am so proud to have the endorsement of 65 state legislators, representing districts all over the state, from here in the Twin Cities, to the suburbs, to Greater Minnesota. And, as a member of four labor unions myself, I’m incredibly proud to be endorsed by 16 labor unions, representing over 250,000 members and retirees, as well as their families.

These men and women, and the working families they represent, are partners in building a new progressive majority.

And we know what we want.

We want universal health care.

We want an economy that works for everyone, not just the special interests.

We want to address global warming and create “green” jobs in renewable energy and energy efficiency.

We want a world-class education for all our kids so that they can compete in the 21st century economy.

And we want to restore our standing in the world, starting with getting out of Iraq and bringing our troops home.

And when George W. Bush leaves office on January 20, 2009, we want his enablers to go with him ­ starting with Norm Coleman.

You know, throughout this campaign we’re going to be talking about Norm Coleman’s habit of saying one thing and doing another.

But when it comes to his record of being a rubber-stamp for President Bush, we can’t say he didn’t tell us so.

Six months after Paul Wellstone died, Norm Coleman did an interview with Roll Call. Leaning back in his chair and waving around an unlit cigar, he told the reporter, “To be very blunt, and God watch over Paul’s soul, I’m a 99% improvement over Paul Wellstone.”

When he apologized, he told us that what he really meant was that he was a 99% improvement over Paul Wellstone ­ in terms of supporting this White House.

And he meant it. In his first year, when President Bush’s approval ratings were high, he voted with the President 98% of the time.

He was a cheerleader for the war in Iraq, and even to this day continues to support the Bush policy of endless war.

He continues to support the Bush economic plan of irresponsible tax cuts for the wealthy, and even wants to make those tax cuts permanent.

As the Minnesota co-chair of Bush’s 2004 re-election campaign, he was an attack dog, serving as a member of Karl Rove’s “truth squad,” leading the Star Tribune to write that he had “demeaned the U.S. Senate and embarrassed many of his constituents.”

He called President Bush “God’s answer” to our prayers. And he wasn’t even being satirical.

This President has turned our federal government into a fully-owned-and-operated division of the Republican Party.

Last week, the Secretary of Education was dispatched to St. Paul, on the taxpayers’ dime, to stand with Norm Coleman and proudly announce a new pilot program ­ that will have absolutely nothing to do with the state of Minnesota. I guess that means they’re taking us seriously.

Even worse, this President has handed the keys to Washington over to the special interests.

Five years ago, Norm Coleman was given the amazing opportunity to serve the people of Minnesota in the Senate. But instead, he sold out to those same special interests.

Senator Coleman has received hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from defense contractors, oil companies, insurance companies, and pharmaceutical companies.

And these were good investments…for them.

After cashing checks from Halliburton, Senator Coleman fell down on the job as chairman of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations while waste, fraud, and abuse sabotaged the re-construction of Iraq.

After cashing checks from Big Oil, Senator Coleman voted to give the oil companies billions of dollars in tax subsidies that they didn’t need and we can’t afford.

After cashing checks from the pharmaceutical and insurance industries, Coleman voted to prohibit Medicare from negotiating with drug companies for lower prices on prescriptions, costing seniors and taxpayers billions of dollars.

George W. Bush may be leaving office, but these special interests aren’t going anywhere without a fight.

So, it’s not enough that we take back the White House. It’s not even enough that we take more seats in Congress. We have to take back this government. We have to tell the special interests that they’re not so special anymore. We have to elect people who will stand up to the oil companies, stand up to the drug companies, stand up to the insurance industry, and stand up for the working families of this state.

This week, Senator Coleman is kicking off his re-election campaign with what he’s calling the “Bringing Minnesota Together” Tour.

Ironically, it seems that Senator Coleman is going to spend most of the “Bringing Minnesota Together” Tour attacking me.

But it won’t work, because the people of Minnesota understand the very simple decision they have to make: Did they really send Norm Coleman to Washington to be a rubber-stamp for the special interests, and can they really afford to give him six more years to keep doing it?

And I think if Senator Coleman is going to be “Bringing Minnesota Together,” he ought to bring the facts with him. Because, believe me, we know that Norm Coleman is going to try to re-write his record. That’s the only way he’ll have a chance to win. And are we going to let him do that?

No. We’re going to hold Norm Coleman accountable for what he’s done in the U.S. Senate. Because while he’s been in Washington, the people of Minnesota have indeed been brought together. George W. Bush and Norm Coleman have taken this country in the wrong direction ­ and they’ve taken all of us with them.

You don’t have to be sick to feel the impact of our broken health care system. We spend twice as much on health care per capita as any other industrialized country, and yet we’re ranked 37th in the world in outcomes. Every other industrialized country covers 100% of its citizens, but we’ve seen the number of uninsured balloon to 47 million, with tens of millions more who are underinsured and go to bed every night fearing that they’re just one health crisis away from bankruptcy. Fifty percent of all bankruptcies in this country are the result of a health crisis. They don’t have that in other countries.

And Minnesotans should know that their Senator, Norm Coleman, voted against allowing people forced into bankruptcy because of high medical costs to protect their homes.

You don’t have to be poor to feel the effects of the Republican Recession. In the last nine months, homeowners have lost nearly a quarter trillion dollars in home equity. Household income is stagnant, the job market is tanking, and middle-class families are feeling the squeeze from all sides.

You don’t have to be a parent to understand that we are leaving too many children behind. I haven’t met a teacher in this state who doesn’t believe in accountability ­ and I haven’t met a teacher who thinks No Child Left Behind is working. Whether it’s the narrowing of our curriculum, overcrowded classrooms, or the chronic under-funding of special education, our public schools need help, and they’re not getting it from Washington.

You don’t have to be a college student to know that the cost of higher education has skyrocketed to unacceptable levels. I met one student at MSU-Mankato who told me he works fulltime and sells his plasma twice a week to make tuition payments. And more often than not, when I tell that story around the state, someone in the audience nods and says, I know someone who does that, too.

You don’t have to be a veteran to know the cost of this war. Fifty-nine Minnesotans have lost their lives since we invaded Iraq a little over five years ago. Nearly five hundred have been wounded. In the towns they left to serve our country, countless neighbors, friends, and families have sacrificed. And all of us know the damage that this war has done to our economy, and to our standing in the world.

You don’t have to be progressive to recognize that there is nothing conservative about the movement conservatives that have held power in this country over the past seven years. There’s nothing conservative about misleading us into a war. There’s nothing conservative about running up huge deficits year after year. There’s nothing conservative about spying on Americans without warrants. And there’s nothing conservative about torture. I have to tell you, I never knew there were so many former Republicans until I started this campaign.

And, you know what, you don’t have to be a Democrat to want real change in Washington. No matter whether you’re a Democrat, a Republican, an Independent, or someone who’s never even thought about what party you might belong to, we welcome you to join this campaign.

Last October, I went on a ten-college tour. Some of the kids I met with were 11 years old when this President took office. They don’t remember that the federal government is supposed to work. They’ve seen Katrina. They’ve seen Iraq. And even sadder, they don’t remember that we were once the most respected country on the face of the planet.

After all, we are the country that sent a man to the moon, the country that mapped the human genome, the country that beat fascism and communism, the country that re-built Europe after World War II and still had enough juice left over to invent rock and roll and the Internet.

And I believe we can restore that greatness.

Instead of arguing over whether or not global warming really exists, we can turn this crisis into a tremendous opportunity by investing in renewable energy and energy efficient technologies. We can preserve our environment, improve our national security, end our dependence on foreign oil, reinvigorate our manufacturing sector, and create high-tech, high-paying jobs right here in Minnesota ­ all at the same time.

Instead of watching our jobs flow overseas, we can have a trade policy that encourages a race to the top, not a race to the bottom. I will not support any trade agreement that doesn’t have strong, enforceable labor, environmental, and safety standards. And here at home, I’ll proudly co-sponsor the Employee Free Choice Act, vote to raise the minimum wage, and work hard to make pensions more secure, because a hard day’s work deserves a decent day’s pay, and a lifetime of hard work deserves a secure and comfortable retirement.

Instead of the ironically-named No Child Left Behind, we can have great public schools for every American child ­ schools like the ones in St. Louis Park that helped my older brother to get into MIT and me to get into Harvard, becoming the first in our family to attend college. Schools with class sizes small enough, and curricula broad enough, to allow our teachers to develop the next generation of brilliant Americans instead of simply teaching them how to take a test.

Instead of being last in the industrialized world in preventive health care, instead of bankrupting our families and our nation with escalating health care costs, we can have universal health care and join the community of nations that covers every citizen.

Instead of shortchanging our veterans, we can honor their service and their sacrifice by making sure they get the benefits they’ve earned. I’ll fight to fully fund the VA so that every vet can have access to full physical, mental, and long-term care for life, and I’ll support a new G.I. Bill to renew the commitment we made to our vets over half a century ago.

Instead of continuing to lose billions of dollars a month and more precious American lives every day in Iraq, we can end this war, quickly and responsibly, and bring our troops home.

And after seven years of the Bush-Coleman economy driving us into a deep economic hole, we can finally stop digging.

Instead of more tax cuts for the wealthiest one percent, we can direct tax relief where it’s actually needed.

Instead of helping millionaire CEOs send their kids to Europe for the summer, we can help middle-class families send their kids to college in the fall by extending and expanding the tuition tax credit.

Instead of just bailing out Bear Stearns, we can help the family in Stearns County in danger of losing their home by implementing a moratorium on foreclosures.

Instead of just thinking about the next quarter, we can think about the next quarter century. We can end the Bush War on Science, and make permanent the research and development tax credit, so that the next great idea comes from right here in Minnesota. We can invest in early childhood education, to give every child a fair chance to succeed in this new century. And we can replace our cowboy foreign policy with one that engages our allies and addresses global challenges, instead of just responding to threats.

We have a lot of work to do together. But it starts by deciding that we are going to have a new direction in this country. We’re going to have a government that truly belongs to us. We’re going to have another chance in our lifetimes to restore America’s greatness.

I believe it more strongly every day. Paul Wellstone said, “The future belongs to those who are passionate and work hard.” I am so passionate about what we can achieve together. Are you ready to work hard alongside me?

It has been, and will continue to be, my privilege to work alongside you.

Thank you.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 25th, 2008 at 11:01 am and is filed under Al Franken, Senate, Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.