I have a special thank you to say to senator cory booker. My dad had the saying i would like to share with folks. He would say, you have to leave the woodpile a little bit higher than you found it. Showsinteresting that he this metaphor. He didnt have a clue which end of the asked to hold. Leaving the wood pile a little resonates in these times we are in. The man occupying the white house wants nothing more than to burn that would pile down. Down. D pile so did you endorse cory earlier . I love getting asked that question. Amazing mayor of a top city, in the midst of one of the worst recessions this country has ever seen, and came out of it being successful. [applause] maybe it is going to be about how he has shown such incredible leadership in the United States senate, particularly being willing to sit down with folks on the other site to pass historic criminal Justice Reform in this country. [applause] thank you for that. Maybe it is about the grit and thank you for that. Resilience he has demonstrated after decades of service in new jersey politics, something that is not easy for the faint of heart. He unseated a mayor who was an incumbent for 29 years and was as corrupt as they come. If that does not resonate with you right now, i dont know what does. One of the biggest reasons i decided to endorse senator booker was because this election is about a hell of a lot more than just beating donald trump. This election is about who we are and who we aspire to be as americans. I cannot think of anybody else that i wouldnt trust that sacred duty to, to lead us beyond this dark chapter of our history then my friend, my brother, senator cory booker. [applause] senator booker thank you very much. [applause] senator booker thank you very much. Thank you very much. [applause] this is awesome. To sue and tom who opened their home for me and for all of us, that is extraordinary that you would create a space for the community to come together. Please give them a round of applause. [applause] i am going to out sue because you are a jersey girl, born in maplewood. And they know that sometimes i start sweating when i am talking, and they have a pool right here. You guys heard from one of our mighty organizers here, and it is not easy to stand in front of crowds. When i was a younger person, my biggest fear in life was being in front of crowds. But she gets up and she not only talked about why she is endorsing and supporting me and working so hard, but she told her own truth, and a nation that still has failed in believing people when they come forward and tell their truth. And for her to take her pain and channel it into purpose, to stand up and understand that we need to listen to each other, understand each other and more important, we need to address the persistent injustices that exist. Please give her i round of applause as well. [applause] where did david disappear to . There are two state senators i love, one is like silent bob, for crying out loud. Where is david . There he is. I want to thank david for coming forward and endorsing. We are the only campaign that has had state senators come forward and endorse, and that means extraordinary things to me. I want to thank them. We are guys that have women in our lives that are extraordinary, but we are not afraid to say we have a series man crush going on. Katie, are you here . She has over at the house with the kids . Creating a vegan meal for me when i get there tonight. Both of these guys have become friends, don has traveled, john has gone with me to new jersey, iowa, its extraordinary. When you endorse a man, you dont play around. I want to thank you for that, both of the state senators here, so you guys are in my roaming territory. Marianne, sorry about this, but this is what we are going to do. I will tell you about why i am running, and then lets have at it, open questions with anyone that wants to have a conversation. I understand cspan cameras are 20 people here and at least 16 people watching at home. Including my mom. [laughter] i am running because i believe in us. I believe that we, at this point in our nations history, cannot fall into the trap of defining ourselves by what we are against. We cant define ourselves by what we are against. We must talk about what we are for and who we are for. We are running against somebody who wants to make this campaign all about him. It is just not good it is just not. I get frustrated and im going to vent a little bit. The numberone polling issue right now is that, i just want someone to defeat donald trump. I think we should have bigger aspirations. [applause] sen. Booker beating donald gets us out of the valley, but not to the mountaintop. We all come from common ancestry, a common heritage under common history. We all know this nation has been about values and principles. We have never been in our nations history free of demagoguery and hatemongers and fear mongers. Every generation had that. What makes us unique, special as a country, we are not defined by that. We are defined by how we came together and overcame those things. Every generation, think about it, mccarthyism, all the conflicts, there was an entire viable Political Party that rose up using the same rhetoric as the current president , and antiimmigration party called the know nothings. Back then, they were against the irish and the italians. And we overcame them. There is no monument to demagogues. There is no monument to hatemongers in our country. We overcame them by talking about who we are. We beat bull connor in birmingham by bringing bigger dogs and bigger fire hoses . No. We overcame that because we called to the moral imagination of a nation, the consciousness of a country. This is not a referendum on one guy in one office. It is a referendum on who we are and who we must be to each other. [applause] sen. Booker and we are all here, not because of the worst of our traditions, we are here because of the best, common sacrifice and common cause. People looked at the lines that divided us like our race, religion, orientation, no, we are here not because of the lines that divide us but because of the ties that bind us because people understood we should develop we should elevate leaders who understand you cant lead the people if you dont love the people. We are a nation that, patriotism is the love of country but you cant love your country unless you love your fellow countrymen and women. [applause] sen. Booker dont get me wrong wrong. D get me i have people saying, he is this new age guy, no. Love is not a sentiment, not a kumbaya feeling, love is sacrifice, love is, if your kids dont have a Great Public School to go to, my kids are less are lesser off. If your family doesnt have great health, my family is not better off. We all have stories like this. 50 years ago this summer, my parents were trying to move into my favorite new state, they tried to move into new jersey but every time they showed up in northeasternmost county, they would see black families come into these neighborhoods with Great Schools and the Real Estate Agent would make up a lie, this house was sold, this house is off the market, so my parents found a group of activists that look a lot like this crowd before me. Diverse, mostly white folks who were patriots, who got together on weekends for their country and they said, im sorry, we are going to welcome the stranger peered we are not a country of hate, we are not defined by the darkness, we are always defined by our light. They set up a sting operation. I call it a conspiracy of love. They said, go out and look at a house, if you are told it is sold, we will send in a white couple right behind you and pretend they are homebuyers. That is what happened. The volunteer white couple the house i grew up in, my parents were told it was sold, the volunteer white couple came, and they acted like they loved the house and they put a bid on the house. The bid was accepted, papers were drawn up, the closing was set, and at the Realtors Office on the day of the closing, the white couple did not show up, my dad did. And a volunteer lawyer. They walked into confront the Real Estate Agent, and this should be the end, but guess what . It is not viewed the Real Estate Agent was so upset, so angry, he punched my dads lawyer in the sicced a a dog dog on my dad. And as i was growing up, every time my dad would tell the story, the dog would get bigger. [applause] sen. Booker eventually it was, i had to fight off a pack of wolves to get you this house, you better appreciate what you have got. [laughter] sen. Booker it wont surprise you after i went off to stanford, oxford, yale, my dad wasnt impressed, he said, this guy has more degrees than july. My first job was fighting for peoples housing rights as a tenants rights lawyer. People fought for my housing and i cant pay it back. You have to pay it forward. That is not my story, this is americas story. We stand up for each other, invest in each other, believe in each other, we are not like other countries, no common religion, we are not a monarchy, we believe in each other, found ed on the ideal that we stand together and Work Together to put more indivisible into this one nation under god, we can do incredible things. We can define ourselves in the spectrum of humanity. Every generation did that. 50 years ago, we were not only beating jim crow, but we put human beings on the moon. Im running for president because i believe in us and i believe our generation can defy but too, but we cant forget that means seeing each other and standing up for each other. We still have a nation where we havent fully established through our laws, even though most americans believe, that health care is a right. We are going backwards. [applause] sen. Booker in my dads day and age, they believed if you work a fulltime job, you shouldnt be in poverty. , aimum wage back then fulltime job, you were not below the poverty line. You tried to do it in New Hampshire with a 12 minimum wage, because right now you are below the poverty line. There is not a county in america where you could work fulltime at minimum wage and afford a two bedroom apartment, not a county in america. This is why the issues i am running on are not just intricate policy plans. They stand for common sense. That we treat each other with respect and dignity. We dont lock you up if you have a Mental Illness or an addiction. We get you health care and help. [applause] sen. Booker that is why it is common sense. We call ourselves, we literally sing the song, home of the brave. It is common sense to say wait a minute, we have a crisis in america, 10 of our Homeless People are the brave, the veterans themselves. That is what a lot of my policies starts with that idea, raising the minimum wage, massively expanding the earned income tax credit so that 150 million working americans would get a tax break, and understanding that in america, we have to see the struggles of each other. Most of you here know somebody who may be home right now taking care of someone with alzheimers, specialneeds child, working aroundtheclock. They dont qualify for the earned income tax credit now, but if i am president , they will get a credit from the government to make sure we support them and their hard work. [applause] sen. Booker it means if you are born in this country as a birthright, you should, and the tax code right now prioritizes giving tax breaks to people with money to create more money. We should say is a birthright in america, that every child has an interest bearing savings account. Bill would put 1000 into the account of every child, and based on the income of your parents you can get 2000 into that account and by the time you are 18, the lowestincome americans would have upwards of 50,000 to invest in college, buying a home, starting a business, to deal with rails wealth inequality to give everybody a foundation for success. Renters in america, there are too many towns in america were people are being priced out of where their families have lived for years. We would have tax credits targeted toward them as well. If you are paying more than one third of your income on rent, you should get a break. I could go on and i hope to get into policy here, but if you want to know the theme of why i am running, it is this idea we have to invest in each other again, we have to stand up for the common purpose, because our competitors are doing it. Look around the globe and you will see the cost of college in 0. 4 ny is between zero and of the Median Income in hair. , trudeau that [laughter] of the Median Income. Here in america it is between 50 and 60 . Our competitors know that, if you want to see the most valuable Natural Resource in a global, knowledgebased society, it is not oil or gas or coal, it is our children. [applause] sen. Booker we used to be the best educators on the planet but now other countries are outinvesting us. I stand for things that are just common sense. We are the only industrial nation that doesnt have paid family leave, because other countries understand if you want to raise great children, you have to prioritize them. Other countries have universal prenatal care. We lead industrial nations in infant mortality and Maternal Mortality because people dont get the health care they deserve. We are one of the nations that doesnt have universal preschool. We have to start thinking about what happens to us. I will give you an example. We have watched over the last decade as china built 18,000 miles of highspeed rail. The busiest rail corridor in north america goes between new and and washington, d c, runs slower than it did in 1960. And you are still fighting for commuter rails out of boston in this state. We used to understand the fight in this country was for common cause or common purpose. An old saying is, if you want to go far, go together. [applause] sen. Booker i want everybody here to think about your head, and this is an election where you want to kick the tires and see the policy plans. Im listening to my colleagues. We all have ideas that are valuable. But this is a campaign that is not just about the head but about the heart, the spirit, the soul of our country. [applause] sen. Booker that is why i have to do some truth telling. If a candidate only tell you what you want to hear, you think he is selling you something. I want to be honest, i have a Different Campaign strategy. If you want somebody who is going to fight fire with fire, i t is not me. And it ise department not a good strategy. I was walking into an iowa town hall, i will never forget it, i was about to bound up on the stage and i see this big guy, a former allamerican football player, the older i get the better i was, and he puts his arm around me and goes, dude, i want you to punch donald trump in the face. And i look at him and go dude, that is a felony. [laughter] [applause] sen. Booker and i challenged him, stick around and let me show you how we beat folks like donald trump, a guy that wants you to fight him on his terms and his turf using his tactics. That is not how we win this election. Martin luther king said, what we have to repent for an hour generation is not the vitriolic words and violent actions of the bad people, it is the appalling silence and inaction of the good people. We are the good people. We are the majority of this country. Dont lose faith in us. This is a referendum on us. This is a time where we cant just focus on one guy, because in communities like mine, im the only u. S. Senator that lives in a low Income Community below the poverty line. My Community Needs a lot more than just beating donald trump. With lead in our water, you guys fas, 3000 with p jurisdictions in america with children with more than twice the blood levels than flint, michigan. People on my block work fulltime jobs and go to the bodega in my neighborhood to use food stamps to feed their families. These are issues going on before donald trump. Seven people shot in my neighborhood and just the past two weeks. Boston just had a bloody stretch. These problems are not bigger than us, but what gives us it strength is not just a demagogue in washington, what gives it strength is that we are tearing ourselves apart as a country right now. There is a tribalism. If you look at the russians and their tactics and strategy, i see this in intelligence reports, they know to undermine our democracy is to divide us against each other. This is why i am running for a Larger Movement than just one office and one person. Im running for the movement of our nation, to continue the cause of our country, to unite people and create a new american majority. That doesnt mean all democrats. A new american majority means we reach out to independents and even some of the republicans. We need everybody on board that we can get because the work of our country, the work is too great, from Climate Change to the crisis at our border, these problems cannot be solved with one faction against the other. We need to unify into a bigger majority in this country and get back to common sense and common cause. This is the story and want to end with on that note. What i am all about, what motivates me to run for president , what excites me every day is that i get to come out and talk about who we are and the truth of our past and the promise of our future. This really is not a new story. The second half of the story i already told you. I got to the senate and decided to do what a lot of senators do who have a high sense of self regard. [laughter] sen. Booker i decided to write a book. And if your name is booker, there is a lot of pressure. [laughter] sen. Booker i decided to go back and find activists who met on weekends like we are, and fought for housing rights, a black Family Moving into the neighborhood. I tell you what, the head of that group, the head of the fair housing council, a woman named lee porter, and she was still easy to find, because at 92 years old she is still the head of the fair housing council. [applause] sen. Booker and now she doesnt represent a lot of black folks in our town, she represents samesex couples, americans with disabilities who are denied justice, she represents local couples. To her, justice has no color, no orientation, no race, no religion. It is one justice, one nation. When i talked to her, she confirmed a lot of the facts of the story. It was not a pack of wolves, people. [laughter] sen. Booker i talked to her and she said, talk to the lawyer who organized everything, and