How do we reach mainstream American families?

We have to first acknowledge what is wrong, what is right and what needs to be done.

I don't think people want to see 30 second commercials as much as they would like to know where a candidate is on issues without being prepped to appear so PC. Engaged citizens love debates. I've reached out to the media, business and labor, as well as partisan and nonpartisan groups. Most think a series of debates is a great idea. I'd like to propose one a month starting in April through the primaries in September. My opponents seem to think one will do. All six could be held at various CCRI campuses throughout the state. I'd love to see folks like Arlene Violet and Pablo Rodriquez moderate them.

People need to know that the war in Iraq is increasingly losing support. In this week's edition of the Marine Times, over 60% of members of the military (especially E-1 through E-6 and O-4 through 0-6) now believe its time to consider withdrawing.

This was something our campaign was pursuing back in July 2005. Doesn't the public want to know which candidates poll test their response, change their minds and which listen to what the public wants and believes?

The leaders in a town in Vermont and the city of San Francisco are about as dissimilar as you could imagine. In one way they're the same. They want impeachment proceedings to begin. Is it vision or being in touch with over two-thirds of Rhode Islanders who want the same thing? Does incumbency protection in RI mean self interest versus public interest?

So now we have the passing of the Patriot Act II by the House and the GOP has blocked investigations into the illegality of wiretappings authorized by the President.

To paraphrase a man I deeply respect, "I'm thinking that mainstream Americans are as pissed off at the Democrats as they are at the Republicans for what our elected officials are doing to our country."

That doesn't require vision, it requires acting to restore basic faith in elected officials. It is done by acknowledging what is wrong, what is right and what needs to be done. This is at the core of our values. The public already knows we need domestic security, better education, national healthcare, job creation, less foreign energy dependence and citizen equality.

It's not a partisan issue, it's a trust and candor issue. It's a leadership issue. I'm ready.