Paul and Sheila Wellstone Center
September 10, 2008
With David Wellstone

Full-Text of Al’s Speech

David, thank you. I am honored that you are here. You know, I happened to be in Washington this past March on the day that the Paul Wellstone Mental Health and Addiction Parity Act was passed in the House. And I saw David that day at the Capitol, and I know how hard you’ve fought for your father’s vision. And we will pass this in the Senate and we will heal a lot of souls and ease a lot of suffering and save a lot families by winning this fight.

A few weeks later I saw David again, and I told him that I had a question I’d been meaning to ask him for quite awhile. I said, “I heard this thing about your dad that I just want confirmed. I heard that when you and your brother and your sister played soccer that your dad had so much energy that he would run up and down the sidelines with the ball through the whole game. Is that true?”

And David said, “Yes. But get this. My dad made me run cross country. And this was a two and half – three mile race every time. And my dad would run alongside me off the edge of the course. And I’d get to the last quarter mile and I’d be about ten or fifteen yards behind the leader and I’d be totally out of gas, and my dad would be yelling, “You can take this guy! You can take this guy! You can take this guy!” And damn if I wouldn’t take him.

Well, I’m going to take this guy. Norm Coleman is running as fast as he can from his record. But I’m going to take this guy!

You know, when I started this campaign, I set out to tell the people of Minnesota who I am, what I stand for, and what I will do for them in Washington.

That was 574 days ago. Franni and I have spent the last nineteen months in coffee shops and VFW halls, at bean feeds and in living room listening sessions, traveling the state from Crookston to Winona from Pipestone to Two Harbors to talk about what’s gone wrong for Minnesota’s middle-class families over the past eight years and how we get it right again.

We’ve met a lot of people, heard a lot of stories, eaten a lot of Dairy Queen, and, frankly, had a lot of fun building a grassroots movement for change.

But now there are 55 days left in the campaign. And 55 days until the people of Minnesota make a choice.

We know the country’s been going in the wrong direction. We know that our government has been taken over by special interests. And in 55 days, we can choose to take it back.

It’s a choice between more of the same and a new direction. A choice between continuing the policies and the politics of the Bush Administration or putting the people back in charge in Washington.

If you’ve never been to a taconite plant, you can’t imagine the hard work it takes to keep that industry going and the immense pride these men and women take in doing it. It’s hot, and it’s loud, and when I visited the mine in Hibbing, even though I was only taking a tour, I walked out of there with black dust glued to my skin and my clothes. It’s a hell of a way to feed your family.

Well, a few months ago I was up in Eveleth with some retired Steelworkers, and we talked about pensions.

One gentleman told me that after decades of hard work, he found out that his company was using a loophole to go into bankruptcy and avoid paying him his pension. So it had to go to the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, and they’re paying him less than 40 cents on the dollar.

This has happened to a lot of Steelworkers, by the way. Imagine yourself, retired at age 57 with a broken body, paying for your own health insurance because you’re not yet eligible for Medicare, trying to make ends meet with $900 a month instead of the $2500 a month you were promised when you got up early every morning for 38 years to go to work at that mine.

The gentleman I was talking to said, “Al, people in Washington just don’t understand how hard it is for us.”

I said, “I don’t understand how people in Washington don’t understand that. All they have to do is come up here to Eveleth and talk to you.”

He said, “Well, Norm Coleman doesn’t come up here and talk to us.”

And I said, “Isn’t…isn’t that the job?

And he laughed and said, “Norm’s probably busy hanging out with the executives who screwed us out of our pensions.” Except he didn’t say screwed.

It made me think, though, about what this job of being a U.S. Senator is and what it means. And it made me realize what the big difference is between me and Norm Coleman.

Sure, there are differences in how Norm and I believe the world works.

For instance, Norm Coleman believes that wealth comes from the top. He believes that what drives our economy is when a super-rich person builds, oh, say, a seventh house. And, sure, I guess that creates some jobs, especially if it’s a really, really fancy house. But I believe that the middle class is the engine of our economy, that what drives our economy is when everyone has a good job, and we’re building millions of homes.

And Norm Coleman believes that the way we’re going to solve this energy crisis is with more giveaways to the big oil companies that got us into this mess in the first place. I think we’ve pretty definitively proven that an energy plan based on giveaways to Big Oil doesn’t work. We have 3% of the world’s oil reserves – and 25% of the world’s demand. So I want to invest in energy efficiency and alternative energy solutions so that we can finally end our dependence on foreign oil – and create good jobs here in Minnesota.

So, there are differences in how we think the world works. But the biggest difference between me and Norm Coleman is in who we think a Senator is supposed to work for.

I think a Senator is supposed to work for that retired Steelworker in Eveleth, and the middle-class Mom frustrated because her daughter has too many kids in her classroom and not enough options to help her afford college, and the hundreds of thousands of homeowners who have seen their home equity disappear in this housing crisis.

Norm Coleman thinks being a Senator is about playing a game. The game works like this. Norm Coleman accepts hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign checks from corporate interests. He votes to give them special handouts and tax breaks that come out of our pockets. Then he comes back to Minnesota and pretends it never happened, and if he fools enough people, everybody wins.

The sad thing is, Norm Coleman fits in pretty well in Washington these days. Under this administration, we’ve seen our government become a place where the special interests run the show and reap the benefits.

That’s why Norm Coleman isn’t offering any real change in this election. You see, this administration and its policies have worked out just fine for the people he really works for.

The oil companies have made record profits, thanks in part to $13 billion in tax breaks Norm Coleman voted to give them.

The drug companies have made $4 billion in extra profits over the past two years because of one vote Norm Coleman took to prohibit the government from negotiating with them for cheaper prescriptions under Medicare Part D.

And like any profitable industry, these companies know a good investment when they see one. They’ve given Norm Coleman more campaign money than any other politician in the history of Minnesota.

Norm Coleman’s not going to change Washington. Why would he?! For Norm Coleman and his special interest friends, George Bush’s Washington works just dandy!

It’s working out great for the wealthiest Americans, who are raking in a bigger share of income than they have since the Gilded Age, thanks to the special tax breaks they’re getting from George Bush and Norm Coleman.

But it’s not working for Minnesota’s middle class families.

It’s not working for the 441,000 Minnesotans who don’t have health insurance, or the nearly 6,000 families who lost their homes to foreclosure this spring, or the 170,000 Minnesotans who want jobs but can’t find them, the highest unemployment rate we’ve had in this state in 20 years.

It’s not working for the 460,000 veterans in this state who have to navigate a complex bureaucracy just to get the benefits they were promised when they volunteered to serve, and when they finally get to the end of the maze, they find that the funding that was supposed to go for their health care already got spent on another tax break for multi-national corporations.

It’s not working for families who are making, on average, 7% less than they did in 2000 but are paying twice as much for public college tuition, and almost three times as much for a tank of gas, as they paid eight years ago.

It’s not working, and Norm Coleman isn’t going to fix it. Because he’s not working for us.

Now, we’re going to have change whether Norm Coleman and his special interest friends like it or not.

Because George W. Bush is leaving office on January 20, 2009. And we’re going to replace the worst president in our history with a man I believe could be one of the best: Barack Obama. And we know that his change agenda is exactly what this country needs. And Minnesotans have one Senator who will work with President Obama to change this country: Amy Klobuchar. Amy has taught me so much about working hard on the campaign trail and working hard in Washington to help Minnesotans. She’s been a champion for change in her short time there, and she’ll make an outstanding senior Senator from our state.

But for a man who once said he was opposed to filibusters on principle - that was when the Republicans were in the majority - Norm Coleman has proven to be a pretty effective roadblock when Democrats have tried to get things done.

He likes to tell a story about Thomas Jefferson, who had a face that said yes.

Well, ever since Democrats took control of the Senate, Norm Coleman has been a Senator who says “no!”

He said no to cracking down on market speculators driving up the price of oil as much as $40 a barrel.

He said no to real relief for Minnesota homeowners struggling under the threat of foreclosure.

He said no to ending the war in Iraq.

Time after time after time, he’s fallen in line with the Republican Party and blocked good bills that would have helped Minnesotans. That’s not getting things done, that’s getting in the way!

So when he asks us to send him back to Washington to keep standing in the way of President Barack Obama, I think we know what we’re going to say to him: No!

We are going to have a chance, with Barack Obama in the White House, to put this country back on track.

And in 55 days, the people of Minnesota will have a chance to elect a Senator who will actually take the job of working for them seriously.

And then I will go to work for the people of Minnesota.

Because Minnesota’s middle class is being squeezed from all sides, I’ll fight for middle class tax cuts: for parents, for small business owners, for caregivers.

Because Minnesotans don’t just want economic security, they want prosperity, I’ll fight for a new $5,000 college tuition tax cut to give every Minnesotan a chance to open the door to a good job and a successful future.

Because too many Minnesotans don’t have health insurance and too many more are paying too much for their health care, I’ll fight to provide every American with affordable, accessible, high-quality health care – that includes parity for mental health and treatment for chemical dependency. Just like Paul Wellstone fought for.

Because Minnesotans can’t afford to wait 22 years for lower prices at the pump, I’ll vote to crack down on market speculators and release oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.

And because I trust Minnesota farmers and entrepreneurs, not the big oil companies, to solve our energy crisis, I’ll strip the oil companies of their tax breaks and invest in an Apollo program for renewable energy and energy efficiency.

Because Minnesotans care about our standing in the world, I’ll vote to end the war in Iraq – and because we all want to honor those who have served there, I’ll guarantee full funding for veterans’ benefits.

I’m in this because that retired Steelworker in Eveleth, and five million other Minnesotans who have seen this country veer off track with George W. Bush in the White House and Norm Coleman in the Senate, need a Senator who’s on their side. A Senator who works for all of us.

That’s the choice for the next 55 days. That’s the choice. Do we want more of the same Washington politics where special interests run the show and our voices aren’t heard? Or are we ready for a new direction?

It has been my honor to campaign on that very simple question for the last 574 days. It will be my honor to stand for election on that very simple question 55 days from now. And it will be my honor to go to Washington and work for the people of Minnesota for the next six years.

Thank you.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 10th, 2008 at 12:26 and is filed under From Al's Desk. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.