Transcript: Corzine's Victory Speech
Nov. 7 -- JON CORZINE, DEMOCRATIC SENATOR-ELECT: Good evening, New Jersey.
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Good evening, everyone. I love you. I love you. You guys areterrific.
I can only say that it is absolutely one of the greatest thrillsof my life to be here, to be the next United States senator from thestate of New Jersey.
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From the bottom of my heart, I love you and I look forward tobeing your senator every day for the next six years.
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For everyone in the room tonight, I want to say I thank you forjoining me in this special moment, joining my family and me and all ofmy friends here who have made this possible. I want to make thisspecial moment possible for everyone in the state of New Jersey.
I appreciate your warmth and your support. I also want you toknow I will dedicate my service in the United States Senate to makingsure everybody has the same opportunity at the American promise thatI’ve had.
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About a half an hour ago, Congressman Franks gave me a call, andhe was very generous and gracious in his remarks. And I want toreturn the favor of saying how important I think this election hasbeen, but I want to congratulate him on a very, very competitive race,and actually his graciousness in how we have handled this wholeprocess.
I want to say, everyone give him a hand. I respect his serviceto the state of New Jersey and our nation.
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He was a worthy competitor. And I know, if we can work together,join hands together in our spiritual life, I know we can in oursecular life, Bob Franks is a good man.
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Now let me say that I am honored by the small “d” democraticprocess that made its judgment and made its choice today. I respectthe people of New Jersey for the choice they made and I hope very muchto be a great senator, in the footsteps of Frank Lautenberg and BobTorricelli.
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And as Joanie (ph) said, as my wife said, I trust the judgment ofthe people of New Jersey. I could not be more humbled by thatconfidence that they have expressed, and I look forward, as I said,working the next six years to do those things that we’ve talked aboutover and over in this election. Making sure that we invest in ahealth care system for everyone in America.
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Making sure we deliver a prescription drug benefit for all of ourseniors.
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That we invest in our educational system, from earlychildhood education to our higher education, where everyone has hopeto go to college.
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I want to make sure we have universal registration and licensingof guns.
And, most importantly, I want to make sure everyone has access —open access to the American dream. That means we have to have —embrace a positive view of affirmative action, equal pay for equalwork for women, and an outlawing of racial profiling.
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Now political campaigns are tough. Sometimes, I think maybethey’re too tough. They thicken a candidate’s skin, that’s for sure. And they challenge the spirit. But if a candidate remembers he or sheisn’t alone, if a candidate remembers that there’s a larger purpose, if a candidate stays in touch with his or her roots, then a campaigncan be a joyful journey. And this has been a joyful journey for me,for my family. And let me assure you, I know my roots. They’restanding right here. They are my family.
