PRESS RELEASES from the McCain, Romney and Huckabee Campaigns:

PRESS RELEASE from John McCain 2008

REMARKS BY JOHN MCCAIN ON FLORIDA PRIMARY VICTORY

EMBARGOED UNTIL DELIVERY
 Contact: Press Office
 
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
 703-650-5550
 

ARLINGTON, VA -- U.S. Senator John McCain's presidential campaign today released the following remarks by John McCain as prepared for delivery:

Thank you. Thank you, Florida Republicans, for bringing a former Florida resident across the finish line first in -- as I have been repeatedly reminded lately -- an all Republican primary. I have always loved this beautiful state, from the time I was a young naval aviator learning my trade in Pensacola to the time I commanded the largest air squadron in the United States Navy at Cecil Field. Most of all, I have always been indebted to Florida friends and neighbors in Orange Park for taking such good care of my family while I was away on a longer than expected tour of duty. Florida has always been a special place to me, and it is all the more so tonight. Our victory might not have reached landslide proportions, but it is sweet nonetheless. And I am deeply grateful to everyone who worked so hard to make it happen.

Time will only allow me to thank a few of our Florida supporters by name, but to everyone who, in good times and bad, devoted so much time, energy and hope to keeping our candidacy competitive, thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Thank you, of course, to the great governor of Florida, Charlie Crist; to my dear friend, Senator Mel Martinez; to Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen; Congressmen Lincoln and Mario Diaz-Balart; Representative Marcelo Llorente; Commissioner Mildred Fernandez; Representative Adam Hasner; Senator Durell Peaden; Representative Bogdanoff and Council President Durell Davis. And thank you so much to our tremendous statewide volunteer leadership who stuck with us for eighteen long, very long months.

And as always, I want to thank my family for their extraordinary support and encouragement: my wife Cindy, daughter Meghan and son, Doug, who are here, and my children who are not here. It is obvious to me, as it should be to everyone, that I could not have done this without you.

This was a hard fought election, and worth fighting hard for, but I've been on the other side of such contests before, and experienced the disappointment. I offer my best wishes to Governor Romney and his supporters. You fought hard for your candidate, and the margin that separated us tonight surely isn't big enough for me to brag about or for you to despair. Governor Huckabee and his supporters, as always, brought to this campaign conviction and passion and something we don't always have enough of in these contests, good humor and grace. And I want to thank, my dear friend, Rudy Giuliani, who invested his heart and soul in this primary, and who conducted himself with all the qualities of the exceptional American leader he truly is. Thank you, for all you have added to this race, and for being an inspiration to me and millions of Americans.

My friends, in one week we will have as close to a national primary as we have ever had in this country. I intend to win it, and be the nominee of our party. And I intend to do that by making it clear what I stand for. I stand for the principles and policies that first attracted me to the Republican Party when I heard, in whispered conversations and tap codes, about the then Governor of California, who stood by me and my comrades, and who was making quite a reputation for standing by his convictions no matter the changing winds of political thought and popular culture. When I left the Navy and entered public life, I enlisted as a foot soldier in the political revolution he began. And I am as proud to be a Reagan conservative today, as I was then. I trust in the courage, good sense, resourcefulness and decency of the American people, who deserve a government that trusts in their qualities as well, and doesn't abrogate to its elf the responsibilities to do for the people what the people can and want to do for themselves.

We Republicans have always known that the first responsibility of government is to keep this country safe from all enemies foreign and domestic, and the American people unburdened by the heavy hand of government that spends too much of their money on things they neither want nor need, while failing to do as well as we should the things none of us can do individually. Government must defend our nation's security wisely and effectively, because the cost of our defense is so dear to us, measured in losses so hard to bear, and in the heartbreak of so many families. Government must respect our values because they are the true source of our strength; and enforce the rule, which distinguishes successful democracies from failed societies, and is the first defense of freedom. And the judges we appoint to federal benches must understand that is their only responsibility, and leave to elected officials their responsibility to make the laws that they enforce. We believe government should do only those things we cannot do individually, to tax us no more than necessary, and spend no more than necessary, and then get out of the way of the most industrious, ingenious and optimistic people in the history of the world so that they can build an even greater country than the one they inherited.

My friends, as I said the other week in South Carolina, there is nothing in our country that is inevitable. We can overcome any challenge as long as we keep our courage, and stand by the principles that have made our party and our country great. Our party has always been successful when we have, like Ronald Reagan, stood fast by our convictions. And we have only suffered when our allegiance to our principles has not been as steadfast as it should. I intend to make my stand on those principles, and I am confident we will succeed in this contest and in the bigger one in November against anyone the Democratic Party nominates.

Most importantly, I promise you again, I will always put America -- her strength, her ideals, her future -- before every other consideration.

Tonight, my friends, we celebrate. Tomorrow it's back to work. We have a ways to go, but we are getting close, and for that you all have my profound thanks. Goodnight and God bless you.

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PRESS RELEASE from Romney for President

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 29, 2008
 
CONTACT: Kevin Madden
 (857) 288-6390
 

GOVERNOR MITT ROMNEY ON THE FLORIDA PRIMARY

St. Petersburg, FL – Tonight, Governor Mitt Romney made a strong showing in the Florida Primary.  In St. Petersburg, Governor Romney spoke about the need for change in Washington so that we can build a stronger America for future generations.  With the announcement of today's results, Governor Romney made the following remarks to supporters, volunteers and the American people:

"Almost, but not quite.  You guys are my heroes.  You took this campaign from nowhere to the very top tier.  You worked your hearts our and you made me a contender and for that, Ann and I and our family will be forever grateful. Thank you so very much.

"Now, I just got off the phone with Senator McCain, and I offered him my congratulations.  I'm sure that you are excited here this evening, but a little disappointed as well, and my guess is when you left your home this evening, you put a son or a daughter to bed, and probably that's happening across the country.  Moms and dads are putting kids to bed, or they already have, and they're sleeping peacefully.  They're probably a bit like my grandkids, full of big dreams and plans, excited by every tomorrow.

"I remember when I was growing up, I always knew that America was the greatest nation on Earth: first nation on the Moon, our cars and movies and technology were the envy of the entire world, and freedom and opportunity was just like the air, it was everywhere I went.  I believed there was nothing I couldn't do, and I knew there was nothing that America couldn't do because we led the world.

"Now, America's leadership didn't come without cost.  It was won by the Greatest Generation in the history of the world.  They defeated fascism, and they built the world's strongest economy.  My Mom and Dad are gone as maybe yours are as well.  What they and their generation left us is the greatest nation in the history of the entire planet.

"And now it's our turn.  What kind of nation will we leave our children and our grandchildren?  We can leave future generations a nation that's even greater than that which we inherited, but to do that, we're going to have to overcome a new generation of challenges.

"Our world is under attack from violent radical Jihadists.

"Our jobs are being sought by new competitors, countries like Asia and India.

"And here at home, our government is spending too much.  We're using too much oil.  Our health care system leaves a lot of people behind.  And our schools are failing way too many.  Even our values are under attack.

"We looked to Washington for leadership, but Washington has failed us.

"We've asked them to fix illegal immigration.  They haven't.

"We've asked them to get the tax burden off our families and businesses.  They haven't.

"We asked them to end our dependence on foreign oil.  They haven't.

"We asked them to maintain high ethical standards.  They haven't.

"We asked them to fix Social Security.  They haven't.

"We asked them to stop spending money on pork barrel projects.  We asked them to balance our budget.  They haven't.

"We asked them time and time and time again, and they just haven't gotten the job done.

"You see, Washington is fundamentally broken, and we're not going to change Washington by sending the same people back just to sit in different chairs.  I think it's time for the politicians to leave Washington and for the citizens to take over.

"It is time for a change in Washington, and here's some of the things we're going to do.  First, we're going to strengthen our families.  We'll make sure that every citizen in our country has affordable health insurance that they can't lose – private, free-market insurance, not socialized medicine, not Hillary-care.  We'll make sure our kids have great schools.  We'll treat teachers like the professionals they are, and we'll put our kids first and the unions behind.  And to build strong families, we'll teach our kids that before they have babies, they should get married.  So we'll strengthen our families.

"And we'll strengthen our military.  We need more troops.  We need better funding.  We need better equipment.  And we need better care for our veterans.  Let's point out to all those who criticized President Bush that it's thanks to him that we've been safe these last six years.  So strengthen our families and strengthen our military.

"And finally, we need to strengthen our economy.  I spent my entire life in the real economy.  I know why jobs come.  I know why they go.  I've been doing business in 20 countries around the world.  I've run small business and large business.  The economy is in my DNA.

"Many of the people across our country are worried about their retirement accounts.  They wonder if they can pay for the college education of their child.  They see their largest asset, their home value, dropping.  Some wonder if their job is going to be secure in a new global economy.  Americans wonder how they can afford the rising cost of health care, and gasoline, and taxes.  These are real challenges.

"At a time like this, America needs a President in the White House who has actually had a job in the real economy.  You see at a time like this, knowing how America works is more important than knowing how Washington works.  The Democrats think that America's greatness flows from our government.  They're wrong.  The source of America's greatness is the American people – hard-working, innovative, risk-taking, family oriented, God-fearing, freedom-loving American people have always been the source of America's greatness, and they always will be.  And so the right course for America isn't to strengthen our government, but to strengthen our people.  And to do that, we're going to have to change Washington, and change will begin with us.

"This presidential election in November of '08 is not about yesterday, it's about tomorrow.  It's not about re-fighting the battles of the past.  It's about winning the future for our children and their children and for America.  When you go home tonight, and you go and kiss your son or your daughter before you go to sleep, you can promise them that this generation will meet the challenges of our time.  That we'll leave them a stronger America, and you can tell them to dream big because for the children of America, every dream will be possible."


PRESS RELEASE from Huckabee for President

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 29, 2008
 Media Contacts:
Kirsten Fedewa
Tel: 202-365-6936
 
Alice Stewart
Tel 501-324-2008
501-658-1654 BB
 

NEWS RELEASE

MIKE HUCKABEE COMMENTS ON FLORIDA PRIMARY

Little Rock, AR - The following statement was issued by former Arkansas Governor and Presidential Candidate Mike Huckabee regarding last night's Florida primary:

"Our campaign is full throttle toward Super Tuesday where a number of key Southern states, and other strong conservative states, are likely to add to our delegate count, which already had us in second place in delegates before Florida. I look forward to a healthy and constructive debate at the Reagan Library tonight as we discuss the conservative issues that matter to most Americans and will define our Party and our future.

"We have a long way to go in this nominating process. When you look at what we have done, with what we have, it's a remarkable story that is not even close to being over. In fact, we like to believe we're just really getting started. I'm convinced that my optimistic message of hope and change will continue to resonate with voters as we head into Super Tuesday."

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