Road Report from Ted Chiodo:

Hello Iowa! With 21 days left till decision time 2006, the traveling road crew headed out to the fine state of Iowa. I woke up early to catch a 7AM flight out of DCA (Washington National) to Cedar Rapids. I used the flight time to catch up on some of the road posts.

JK was in fine spirits as we bounded through O’Hare airport to pick up our connection in the C concourse. We arrived in Iowa (in roadspeak, “wheels down”) at 10:47 am and were met by Alan Bernard, Justin Shields and Matt Summers (a transplanted staffer from Keeping America’s Promise in Iowa for the month). It was a brisk Midwestern fall day with light winds and overcast skies. We all headed out of the airport to Iowa City, the home of the Hawkeyes of the University of Iowa.

Our first delicious stop (unscheduled) was Whitey’s Ice Cream Parlor. JK and everyone else wanted to get something to eat so we all decided grab some ice cream. I snapped some photos for everyone inside of Whitey’s, a great family owned chain that has a multitude of ice cream flavors. JK ordered a sundae with hot fudge and whipped cream, Marvin had a double scoop of chocolate in a cake cone; I went with the white tiger paw in a cake cone.

The white tiger paw really hit the spot as we headed to the first scheduled event, a rally with Chet Culver and other Democratic candidates at Vito’s restaurant on 118 East College Street.

The site was packed with Democrats old and young who came to see John Kerry speak, including University of Iowa students and Delta Gammas’ Katherine Morrison, Sarah Milani and JJ Usedom, who were attending their first Democratic rally. <!-more-> John Kerry brought the crowd to its feet with his attacks on the current administration’s failures in Iraq and domestically: George Bush wants you to believe that Democrats are to blame for the Foley cover-up, that Democrats are to blame for the current mess in Iraq, that Democrats are the cause of all the country’s ills.

These lies have to end. It was the Republicans who covered up for a predator instead of protecting children in their charge. It was a Republican administration that didn’t plan for victory in Iraq and sent our troops to battle without the equipment they needed. If Republicans don’t accept responsibility for their failures over the past 6 years, then voters must hold them responsible in 2006. They have had 6 years to bring American together and failed utterly. It’s high time Americans made a change.

JK went on to disparage the well known Rovian Republican smear machine. Iowans aren’t going to stand for Texas millionaire money coming in and funding these 527 ads attacking Democratic candidates who have lived, worked and fought for Iowans their whole lives. This November, 2006 election can be decisive in getting our country back on the right track.

JK called on the crowd to do more than vote: get involved, pick out a number of friends, neighbors, and family members, and make sure everyone in your group goes to vote.

The crowd rose to its feet in applause and cheers as JK ended his remarks. It was a great event and I know the voters of Iowa are going to make their state Blue in 2006.

Let’s get at it!  Mahalo!

    -- Ted

Road Report from Ted Chiodo:

Sunday, 10-15-2006—only 23 days left until the 2006 election.

Our travel throughout Maryland with Democratic Senate candidate (and current Congressman) Ben Cardin continued with a campaign stop in Montgomery County coordinated campaign headquarters.  During the day I had finally obtained my prime window seat.  But as soon as I cracked the open the window (ah, fall—fresh air!) and opened my laptop, I received the dreaded low battery warning.

And of course, today was a day I left my car adapter plug in my other jacket (the red one I am so fond of).  So wherever I went, I began every conversation with a plaintive plea, do you know where an outlet is?  You know, the thing you plug stuff into?  “Oh, it’s behind the stack of yard sign boxes [25 feet away, my cord’s about 6 feet],” or “No, you can’t use that one, that’s the only outlet in the room and the server’s plugged in there.”  Don’t you just love those inviting dummy outlets, the ones that you plug into and there’s no juice?  At long last, I found an open, working outlet in the back of the kitchen, plugged in my ailing battery, and ran back to get some pictures. <!-more-> The room was filled with Democrats of all ages, shapes and sizes.  The crowd was boisterous as Democratic candidates up and down the ticket took turns cheering and firing them up.  Ben Cardin said unless Democrats win one or both houses of Congress this fall, the country will step even further backwards, from science and civil rights to protecting middle class jobs and Social Security.

JK took the floor last and railed against the current administration’s lies.  Until Republicans tell the truth, Kerry said, they cannot hope to regain any credibility with a majority of Americans.  We rely on leaders who respect the truth and use the truth as a foundation for their governance.  The Republicans have been lying to Americans, basing their foreign policy and domestic programs on sloganeering and wedge issues.  Americans are fed up with being split apart and neighbor set upon neighbor.  JK urged the cheering crowd to make a difference and asked for their help with getting out the vote, phone banking, and canvassing to elect Ben Cardin to the U.S. Senate.

It was quite a pep talk.  I even forgot about my battery problems for a couple of minutes!

Take care and get involved!

Mahalo.

    -- Ted

John Kerry is in Iowa today. AP reporter Mike Glover reported the following comments made by JK today in response to reports about Bush’s phone call with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

IOWA CITY, Iowa—President Bush committed “a gigantic blunder” by giving top Iraqi officials assurances that American forces would remain indefinitely in that war-torn country, Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry said Tuesday.

Kerry argued that Bush should have pressured Iraqi leaders to set aside their differences and begin making progress toward assuming responsibility for security, a move that could lead to a lowering of U.S. troop levels.

“The absence of pressure I find is an enormous blunder that gives the Iraqi politicians a free pass to continue the status quo that most Americans understand is a failure, that’s not working,” Kerry said. “I’m amazed by it.”

Kerry, speaking with reporters after appearing at a campaign event with Iowa gubernatorial candidate Chet Culver, was reacting to a 15-minute telephone call Bush had Monday with the Iraqi prime minister. Bush called Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to quell rumors that the United States planned to set a deadline for Iraqis to assume security responsibilities. In his conversation, Bush said there was no deadline and that American troops would remain as long as they were needed.

Bush’s comments can be compared to his “bring it on” challenge to terrorists, Kerry said.

<!-more-> Mr. Glover went on to quote JK:

“I think the president committed a gigantic blunder of the proportion of ‘Bring it on,’ ” said Kerry. “When he has a conversation with the prime minister of Iraq and he climbs out and he says that he told him he doesn’t have to worry, we’re going to be there as long as it take, you’ve given a message that they can take as long as they want.”

Political infighting has slowed the Iraqi effort to establish a credible government, and the United States should begin applying pressure rather than accepting delays, said Kerry.

“His message should have been that not one American is going to be sacrificed because your politicians are unwilling to compromise,” said Kerry. “You have to resolve your differences or we will consider changing course if you are unwilling to do that, to put pressure on them.”

Kerry said even Republicans such as Sens. John Warner and Chuck Hagel are calling for a new strategy in Iraq, and Bush needs to get that message.

Road Report from Ted Chiodo:

Sunday, 10-15-2006—only 23 days left until the 2006 election.

I traveled with John Kerry and Ben Cardin, the Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate in Maryland. The back seat was mighty cramped as I vied for room with two other staffers, a laptop, 3 newspapers, and assorted junk.

John Kerry was invited to speak at a minority small business owners meeting in Prince Georges County in Maryland. We were met at the door of Cool Wave Water by the House of Representatives Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer (MD-5th), Cool Wave Water owner Melvin Forbes, and 35-40 minority small business owners. The Cool Wave factory and office were filled with Cardin signs.

Melvin Forbes kicked things off with a rousing call for a Democratic victory in 2006. He clarified a race that has been unusually nasty with Ben Cardin’s opponent slinging smears with abandon. Melvin wanted the audience to think about what it means for Democrats to stand up for the Davids and not the Goliaths. Democrats believe that a rising tide lifts all boats and that this country works best when we invest in the businesses of tomorrow. <!-more-> Melvin then introduced Steny Hoyer, who quickly had the crowd on its feet about the choice before them in 2006.

Steny joked that Cool Wave Water was so good he was going to send a case to every Democratic candidate in the last week of the campaign to keep them energized. Congressman Hoyer said that when it came down to who will support the interests of all the citizens of Maryland, Ben Cardin is the only viable option.

With that, Cardin talked about his belief that Maryland must be a place where all Americans have the ability to start and grow a business in the state. The Democratic Party supports this American right; the Republican Party supports subsidizing large legacy corporations that send their jobs out of the country, leave their workers without pensions, and without healthcare.

After Cardin, John Kerry spoke about why things must change if the Congress is going to support investing in the future of this country. We need to throw out this Republican Congress, where the credit card companies write a bankruptcy bill and giant oil companies write the energy bill. Voting for Democrats would support new economic initiatives, like making micro loans and fully funding the SBA. Voting for Democrats will stop large multinational corporations from ripping off SBA programs by stopping these companies from bundling their subsidiaries to apply for SBA programs.

After the event was over I hustled to get a window seat in the car. Unfortunately I left my note pad in the office and thus lost my prime window seat when I retrieved it.

    --Mahalo from a very cramped Ted

Road Report from Ted Chiodo:

Our Maine trip with Governor Baldacci continued after our stop at the Lewiston American Legion Post. After JK chatted with all the men and women who were in the Legion hall, he stepped outside into the beautiful Maine air and had a small impromptu press conference with local Maine reporters. I snapped a few photos of this gaggle and then went back to the rented blue Dodge Caravan land yacht (mini van) and started it purring.

I ended up in the driver’s seat of the 2nd vehicle in our 3-car convoy. Julie Armstrong, a wonderfully nice lady with a keen sense of direction, gave up an entire day to tool around with us as we campaigned to elect Democrats in Maine. I’d like to take this time to thank her and say that I really thought she had a sweet pair of sunglasses. <!-more->

We headed to Westbrook Fire Station around 2:30 pm to meet up with Congressman Tom Allen and the local fire fighters. Tom Allen is a great friend of fire fighters. He a native Mainer who graduated from Bowdoin College (the same college as Maine Civil War hero Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain ).

As we pulled up, Tom Allen, Chief Gary Littlefield and some hearty Westbrook fire fighters greeted us. JK and Gov. Baldacci happily thanked Tom, Chief Littlefield and the fire fighters for inviting us to their spic-and-span fire station.

JK went on to thank IAFF for all of their help in 2004 and said, “When the Fire Fighters give you their support, you can rest easy because help is on the way.” The station was gleaming in the mid-afternoon sun; the vibrant reds and shiny chrome put a smile on everyone’s face.

JK, Gov Baldacci, and Tom Allen toured the site shaking hands and asking them about their concerns. They discussed the critical role of fire fighters as first responders and the full funding of the FIRE grant program. JK spoke about the importance of the job fire fighters do. They go where others won’t and do what others can’t to save the lives of their fellow citizens. John Baldacci and Tom Allen were the kind of leaders we need in Washington, Kerry said, people who represent the same values as selfless fire fighters, not the selfishness of the Republicans.

Great stuff—it is time for a change in 2006.

Now back to the joys of computer batteries. My battery’s dead.  I’ve got this thing plugged into the wall, and still nothing’s happening!  Help guys!  Assuming I get the battery working again, I’ll be back in touch soon.  

Until then, Mahalo!

    -- Ted Chiodo

Today’s Washington Post features an interview with John Kerry which Bob Woodward did on March 7, 2006 in conjunction with work on his recently released book, “Plan of Attack.” Woodward submitted 22 questions to Kerry about his views on foreign policy before 9/11, and on starting the war in Iraq in 2003. Today’s article is an edited version of a 2-hour conversation based on those questions.

**

A Conversation With John Kerry

Interview by Bob Woodward Washington Post Sunday, October 15, 2006; B04

In the months before the 2004 presidential election, The Washington Post’s Bob Woodward sought to interview Sen. John F. Kerry, the Democratic nominee, about how he might have conducted foreign policy in the 18 months between Sept. 11, 2001, and the invasion of Iraq in March 2003. For his book “Plan of Attack,” Woodward had interviewed President Bush on how and why he made decisions during that same period. Woodward gave the Kerry campaign a list of 22 questions based on Bush’s actions, asking how Kerry would have responded at each key decision point if he had been president. Kerry declined the interview at the time. More than a year later, on March 7, Kerry agreed to be interviewed by Woodward and answer the 22 questions. Below is an edited version of their two-hour conversation. <!-more-> ON PLANNING FOR WAR

John Kerry: Let me start at the beginning, because if I were president and we had been attacked as we were attacked on 9/11, I would have, first of all, created a kind of war cabinet similar to what other presidents have done historically, going back to Roosevelt and others. . . .

Now, you may have an executive committee within that . . . like President Kennedy did. But your war cabinet itself needs to be especially plugged in . . . so the right questions are on the table and the right questions are asked and the right discussion takes place. I mean, if you go back and look at Eisenhower, Eisenhower is smart in that he played less than fully briefed, so to speak, and he would let the staff fight it out in front of him and not let on what he believed or where he wanted to go. I think it’s particularly important presidentially not to indicate your policy right up front unless there’s such a clarity to it. For instance, in response to 9/11, there’s clarity. We’ve got to go kill al-Qaeda. . . . In fact, I would have thought about starting that war differently.

Bob Woodward: In what way?

I believe that during that particular period of time you knew that they [the Taliban and al-Qaeda] had bad habits. They didn’t believe that we would necessarily invade. . . . That is an enormous advantage with which to begin any planning. So they are running around in caravans, which we can see from technical means. They’re talking on cellphones, which we can follow with technical means. It gave us time to put assets on the ground.

There are all kinds of things that we could have done with respect to pinpointing their whereabouts.

This is after 9/11?

Absolutely. And my instincts would have been much more inclined to have used feint as subterfuge to indicate you might be doing one thing when you’re really doing another. . . . I would have been inclined to have used a greater covert effort to put the pressure on Osama bin Laden, at which point I would have been prepared to move major track divisions into position, whether it’s the 101st, the 10th Mountain Division, 82nd Airborne, etc.

. . . Now, I know we had SEALs at Tora Bora. And they wanted to go. I mean, who wouldn’t have wanted to go get Osama bin Laden?

bottom line is there wasn't even a sufficient strategy to do that. I would have guaranteed there was. Period.

What would you have said to your central commander, who’s the guy on the ground, about planning for an Iraq war?

First of all, I would have had enough people around who understand and define to me adequately the nature of the threat that we now face. . . . And that requires a pretty extensive outreach effort which includes, in my judgment, not just the Joint Chiefs of Staff and your national security adviser and your intelligence director, but it really includes. . . . President George Herbert Walker Bush, President Jimmy Carter, President Bill Clinton, you know, President Ford, Brent Scowcroft, Zbig Brzezinski, Jim Baker, George Shultz. I mean, you start running the list. I would have had all of those people to some evening sessions, sat up there in the Yellow Room and sat around and said, “What are we facing here? What are the challenges? What’s the most important thing we do? How do we win?” Once you define the war on terror, then you can really understand what you’ve got to do. I think these guys rushed to a definition of the war, saw it the way they wanted to see it, clouded by ideology, and then went out and made people do things accordingly. . . .

It’s incomprehensible to me. I mean look—go back to that period. On that November 21st date [Nov. 21, 2001, when Bush first asked Rumsfeld to look at the war plan for an attack on Iraq], we had not yet fought Tora Bora. . . . We were deep in Afghanistan with an enormous priority to kill al-Qaeda. And we also had a very tentative Pakistan that was fragile, which was a country with nuclear weapons, which we were just moving to the place of sort of participation with America. . . . So my instinct, absent evidence of intelligence, would not have been to ask the secretary of defense for war plans on Iraq. I would have said, “Do we have sufficient troops on the ground to trap Osama bin Laden?” . . . It would not have moved me to take the eye off of Osama bin Laden and the fundamental goal, which was destroying al-Qaeda. . . .

You would have gone to Bush’s father, even?

Oh, absolutely. You kidding? I would have said, “Come down here and spend the evening at the White House. Let’s talk. I want to talk to you. Tell me about your decision. Tell me all the things that went through your head when you were thinking about going into Iraq and you made the decision finally not to go.”

In August ‘02, Powell asked for a two-hour dinner alone with Bush. Condi Rice is there and he says, “The consequences have not been fully examined and if you invade . . . ‘you break it, you own it.’” What would you have done at that moment, if you were president?

If I were president and my secretary of state came to me and said, “Mr. President, you’re on a bad track,” I would slow the baby down and find out if I was on a bad track. Or I’d fire my secretary of state. . . . I mean, if a guy with Colin Powell’s credentials who’s been chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who’d risen up through service to other presidents, who’s been to war, and who is your chosen secretary of state, came to me and said that, I’d say, “Okay. What do we need to do? Where are we? What are the downsides? What haven’t we done?”

ON THE “AXIS OF EVIL”

Do you think that the idea of lumping North Korea, Iran and Iraq together is, from a policy point of view, possible or wise, as Bush did in his 2002 State of the Union?

No, it’s neither wise nor possible because they are different challenges, different cultures, different historical backgrounds to those challenges. And in the case of the Middle East, we really had an opportunity post-9/11. This is what I think was so important. This is what I saw staring us in the face as I went through 2004 . . . a remarkable opportunity to reconnect to the post-9/11 goodwill of the world, which in my judgment this administration squandered. And that goodwill was perhaps one of our greatest assets. Had we taken that goodwill and built it into a larger strategic concept - I mean, you can go back to Woodrow Wilson. . . . And then you go to Roosevelt. You go to Kennedy . . . and Eisenhower. They all had a larger strategic concept, which - this is important—had the ability to bring the world to our side.

Bush thought this was a strategic concept.

This was an ideological concept, not a strategic concept. . . .

I mean, this is what I would have wanted in first discussions. What are we up against? What is this all about? Did these guys just attack us because this is part of Osama bin Laden’s strategy for a greater caliphate in the Middle East, or are they attacking us for other reasons? . . . And it seems to me that the transformational aspects of it require a much more massive kind of public diplomacy, global cooperation on religious issues as well as on economic issues and human rights and other issues, as it did the barrel of a gun. These guys could only see it in the context of the military piece.

ON POSTWAR PLANNING

[I]t wasn’t really until three months before the war starts that Bush got involved in aftermath planning. And the question is, when do you start, even if you’re contemplating war, which clearly they are, when do you start the ball rolling on aftermath?

Day One. And that is not a Monday morning quarterback comment. That is such a fundamental prerequisite to the concept of contemplating going to war, particularly where you are going to occupy another country. One of the first questions, I’d sit there with a bunch of people at the table, I’d say, “Okay, assuming we go into Iraq, what happens after?” Nobody ever doubted this was going to be short and we were going to win. So we knew we were going to win, so once we’re in Baghdad, what happens? Who’s going to run the country? Will there be electricity? What are the war plans? Can we protect the pipelines on the oil? What’s the ability to make sure people have food? Are you going to guard the ammo dump so you make sure there isn’t looting?

Remember when Rumsfeld said, “Oh, looting happens.”

“Stuff happens.”

I was stunned by that. And I said they’re going to rue the day that they allowed this stuff to get out of control because they sent a message, “No control.” And our kids were being blown up by the very weapons that they didn’t even think about securing on the way in. There should have been an elaborate—in fact it was an elaborate plan and they chose to ignore it. Colin Powell and the State Department had a fairly elaborate plan and I’ve talked to people who are involved in the making of it.

ON DONALD RUMSFELD

In November-December ‘02, Rumsfeld’s making major force deployments to the area but he says we can’t do a big one because it will tell the world diplomacy is over. And he said, “We’re sending these forces and they’re going to be in top fighting shape for about two or three months but then it will start to degrade.” Your reaction?

One of incredulity that a president would even allow that argument to be persuasive and that a secretary of defense would make it in the first place. And shame on all of them for that. That is insulting to Americans and to all of us, the notion that you have to send people to war simply because you put them there. This is just, you know, it was their rush to war.

And then when Rumsfeld in January started telling the president, “You’re losing your options.” And you know, you get to a point where we’re asking our allies, particularly the Saudis, to make commitments and it’s not feasible to back off.

Well, you could always back off it if you haven’t committed the troops and there’s a reason to back off. I mean, if you don’t have intelligence to go to war and you go to war for weapons of mass destruction, you damn well can say, “I’m not giving the order to fire.” What is the shame in going back and saying, “We have new intelligence that indicates something different and I intend as president to exercise my responsibility to the world and to our troops to make sure we’ve exhausted that.”

Do you get in a bind, though, where to credibly threaten force you have to deploy all kinds of troops and then once you’ve deployed them you get into—

The purpose of the deployment of the troops is to get the weapons of mass destruction under control. If at the last moment something indicates to you either there aren’t weapons of mass destruction or you have a way to get them under control, you don’t use the troops and you don’t have to. I mean, those are the tough judgments. Look, what are you going to do? “Oh, gee. We’re locked in. We don’t have sufficient evidence but I’m going to send this kid from Illinois to die anyway?”

ON DOUBTS

Can a president afford to have doubt in a time of war?

Well, you better have your doubts before the war. And you better explore every doubt before the war. But once you’ve committed, you better not have a doubt. You better know what you’re doing and you better be committed to winning and do everything in your power to do that.

Do you think they had a process of doubt?

No. Clearly they didn’t, and that’s a reflection of the president.

But Bush says, when I asked him earlier, I said, “You never get everyone to agree on the use of force.”

I’m not looking for everybody’s agreement. You’re never going to get everybody to agree.

What are you looking for?

What I’m looking for is the broadest possible vetting and examination. And let the debate take place in front of me and I’ll make my judgment. But nobody will have any doubt that every question was asked. Nobody will have any doubt that the alternative theories were examined, that history was examined, that culture was examined, religion was understood, that the dynamics of the region were explored, that people who’ve lived there have been inquired of. When I get to that decision I can explain it and there’s only one rationale, not a whole bunch of shifting rationales. That’s the way you take a nation to war.

ON HISTORY’S VERDICT

I asked Bush in December ‘03, “How do you think history’s going to judge your war?” And that’s when he said, “We don’t know. We won’t know. We’ll all be dead.”

I think history nowadays judges things much more rapidly, number one. And number two, certain things lend themselves to pretty rapid judgment. Vietnam is an example of that. . . . And history is going to judge this very, very, very rapidly, I think.

And severely?

I think history is going to be very, very tough on not just the way the war has been managed, but on the way in which the decision to go to war was carried out. It’s going to be a low moment . . .in the presidency in history.

KERRY NEW HAMPSHIRE VIDEO AVAILABLE NOW! John Kerry gave a great speech Friday night at the Jefferson-Jackson Day Dinner in New Hampshire. You can see the whole speech on the website in the Multimedia section. The text of the speech as prepared is here, but there’s nothing like seeing John Kerry take it to Bush’s lies.

Road Report from Ted Chiodo:

24 days left till Election Day.

Today started as I rolled out of bed in my sweet room on the 10th floor of the Radisson in Manchester New Hampshire. I headed out behind the wheel of a rented Dodge Caravan land yacht on 93 to 101 to 95 to meet up with John Kerry. The drive wasn’t so bad because I was giving a lift to a photographer from a news magazine doing a story on John Kerry. The plan was to meet up with JK, who was flying into to Auburn, Maine, and begin a day traveling throughout Maine to keep it blue in 06.

Our first public stop of the day was with veterans in Lewiston at the American Legion Post 153. John Kerry, Congressman Mike Michaud, and Governor John Baldacci all arrived at the Legion Hall around 1:00 PM. At a large table out front, Legionnaires were collecting goods to send to our troops in Iraq, batteries, socks, candy, books, the small things that let our troops know that we’re thinking about them. <!-more->

The event began with legionnaire Ed Desgroseilliers, who tossed his prepared remarks and spoke from the heart about the war in Iraq, where his son is now serving. He talked about separating our support of brave American heroes from Bush’s failed policy that is undermining our ability to make the world a better place.

Ed reminded the room that the Bush administration had broken our country’s promise to take care of our veterans. That theme was continued by Congressman Mike Michaud who echoed Ed’s theme, calling for all of us to fight for those Americans who fought for us. Taking care of those who wore the uniform is a promise more important than granting more tax subsidies to the rich.

Governor Baldacci then spoke about all the great things Democrats in Maine had accomplished since he took office, starting with turning a $2 billion debt into a $100 million surplus. It was Democrats who turned Maine into a place where businesses wants to compete instead of a place where businesses were closing. He promised the veterans that the state of Maine would never let down its veterans as long as he was governor. Baldacci then introduced John Kerry to boisterous and energetic applause.

John Kerry rose thanked everyone for their efforts to elect Democrats across the state. He attacked Bush’s willingness to cut funds this year for the Veterans’ Administration, while continuing to pursue a Katrina foreign policy. A truly patriotic administration would not be placing our soldiers in harm’s way without a policy to win, while at the same time failing to care for veterans.

The text of John Kerry’s rousing speech at last night’s Jefferson-Jackson Day dinner in New Hampshire is up on the website now. C-Span will be featuring this speech on its “On the Road to the White House” show on Sunday evening at 6:30 pm, along with a speech by former NYC mayor Rudy Guiliani.

Thanks to New Hampshire blogger Miss Laura, who talked with John on Friday afternoon before the Jefferson-Jackson speech, and posted on her Blue Granite blog, which covers New Hampshire’s 2nd Congressional district, where Democratic candidate Paul Hodes is threatening to send Republican Congressman and Bush rubber stamp Charlie Bass back home to New Hampshire. And thanks also to blogger Taylor Marsh, who spoke with John about the war in Iraq on Thursday, and noted that “Kerry also reads the blogs, loves them and went out of his way to thank me, personally, for the work I do, but also made a point of sending the same to others. It was sincere.”

If you want to see John Kerry in action on TV on Sunday, tune in to the Chris Wallace “Fox News Sunday” show at 6 pm EDT. John will be talking with Chris about national security.

<!-more-> UPDATE: Video of JK’s speech is now available in Windows Media Player format—Quicktime format is on its way.

Road Report from Ted Chiodo:

25 Days Left and John Kerry just rocked the house at tonight’s Jefferson Jackson dinner in Manchester New Hampshire.

It was a crisp fall New Hampshire night and John Kerry’s words were equally crisp, precise and to the point. The Armory Ball Room (as Joliet Jake and Elwood, the Blues Brothers, would say a “real barn”) was filled to the brim with excited and fired up Democrats. These are the same brave men and women who stood up, fought back and turned the state blue in 2004. Tonight was a blast and it was a real honor to be part of this effort to make sure the Granite State stays blue in 2006. Let me give you a full account of tonight’s speech because it was quite a sight to behold.

John Kerry and Teresa Heinz Kerry arrived at the Radisson in Manchester around 4:30 PM. By that time I’d already said hello to some of the nicest, well informed and hard working members of this online community. Marvin Nicholson gave me a ring and informed me that he had run into a Johnkerry.com blogger in the unusually trendy Radisson lobby. <!-more-> I immediately put down my Sony pod casting owners manual (wonderful reading by the way) and rode the elevator down (with LeBron James, no less, in town for a Cavaliers Exhibition Game, I wished him luck with the game and asked if he was voting, he said yes - yes, it is a weird and wild world that I inhabit) to meet Terri and Ann who had assembled some of the local and not so local Johnkerry.com community members to attend the speech. Well, we got to chatting about 06 and Johnkerry.com and before you know it Terri and Ann had to find their seats before the JJ began without them. Before I go any further I want to say to all the Johnkerry.com community members that I met tonight (Terri, Cathie, Kirsten, Ann and forgive me if I forgot anyone) that your kind words mean a lot to me. Your hard work and intelligence are the life blood of this community. In simpler terms - you rock.

So I said my good byes to Terri and Ann, and I headed out to the Armory room to check my perch on the press riser (the place where all the MSM media guys set up their cameras and hang out). The room, which looks like a super sized high school basketball court, was brimming with excitement as the New Hampshire Democratic Party Chair started off the festivities with the pledge of allegiance.

After the pledge, fired up Democrats Carol Shea-Porter, Paul Hodes and Gov John Lynch took the floor and put the decision before the audience.

This year we face a choice. Do we want to send this Congress back to DC or have we had enough of it? Have we had enough of the Republican internet sock puppetry against Paul Hodes, have we had enough of the Ken Mehlman-connected phone jamming? Have we had enough of this war?

Well let me tell it to you straight. That crowd in that hall on that night had had enough of this Republican Congress. The stage was well set for John Kerry, who was introduced to a standing ovation from the people who helped make him the Democratic nominee in 04. Love and hope were tangible as the crowd rose to their feet in appreciation.

John Kerry waved, took a breath and began what was a hell of a speech. Sharp, clear, hitting back decisively at the fear-and-loathing administration that divides rather than unites and preys on fears instead of inspiring the better angels of our nature. We’ll have the text and video later today. Take a look…

Mahalo!

UPDATE: The full transcript of JK’s speech is now available here.

John Kerry will speaking later tonight at the New Hampshire’s Jefferson-Jackson Dinner in Manchester, New Hampshire. We’ll have the full text and a video of the event later on, but here are some excerpts to chew on until then:

They tell us we’re making progress in Iraq and that there is no civil war. That is a lie. There is a civil war and it is costing American and Iraqi lives every single day and we must change course in Iraq….

They tell us the Congressional Page scandal is a Democratic plot to win the mid term elections. That is a lie. This issue is here because of a Republican cover-up. And those from the Party that preaches moral values that covered this up, have no right to preach moral values any more….

They say we must support the war in order to support the troops. I say the best way to support the troops is to oppose a course that squanders their lives, oppose a course that dishonors their sacrifice, and oppose a course that disserves our principles. They say we would dishonor the lives that have been lost by changing course in Iraq. How immoral and shameful to use lives already given as an excuse to take even more. How immoral to say that more must die because others already have. When soldiers suffer and die on the altar of an Administration’s stubborn pride, when they lose limbs because of the incompetence and arrogance of mere politicians, then the only patriotic choice is to take back the moral authority abused by those in high office – take it back and throw them out….

In New Hampshire, Congressmen Bass and Congressman Bradley have failed to ask the tough questions, failed to demand the answers, and rubberstamped a willful president’s wrongful course. That failure demands the independent voice of New Hampshire be represented by the independent voices of Paul Hodes and Carol Shea Porter! ...

Let me tell you, presidents and politicians may worry about losing face, or losing votes, or losing legacy – I believe we ought to worry about young Americans who are losing their lives….

It’s immoral for old men to send young Americans to fight and die in a conflict without a strategy that can work – on a mission that has not weakened terrorism but worsened it….

Well I think Americans see through this charade. Americans now know the truth:

We have a Katrina foreign policy -blunders and failures that have betrayed our ideals, killed and maimed our soldiers, and widened the terrorist threat instead of defeating it….

We deserve leaders who know we have “nothing to fear but fear itself” not politicians who have nothing to offer but fear itself….

No Democrat should be bullied by an administration that has a cut and run policy in Afghanistan, a do nothing policy in North Korea and a stand still and lose strategy in Iraq. We need to stand up to them because staying the course isn’t far-sighted; it’s blind. Leaving our troops in the middle of a civil war isn’t resolute; it’s reckless. Remember: half of the service members listed on the Vietnam Memorial Wall died after America’s leaders knew our strategy would not work. It was immoral then and it would be immoral now to engage in the same delusion….

We need to once again start treating our moral authority as a national asset that does not tie our hands but extends our reach. We must never excuse an Abu Ghraib or a Guantanamo. And let me say it plainly: No American president should be for torture before he’s against it….

So more than anything, we need to make America, America again -we need to restore America’s moral authority in the world and the United States needs to make some friends on this planet….

There are more Katrinas. Take health care – health care is a slow-motion Katrina that’s ruining lives and bankrupting families all over the country. In the almost six Bush years, health insurance premiums have gone up 73 percent….

You want a test of family values? Here’s a really simple test: Instead of people earning a million dollars a year getting another tax cut, give every child in America health care – now!...

So our job as Democrats is to fight until we stop allowing the richest country on the face of the planet to be the only one that doesn’t have health care for every man, woman, and child. The Democratic Party must stand for health care for all Americans-or we don’t stand for anything at all….