'It Is Time to Reach for the Next Dream'

My fellow Americans, this is the most important election of our lifetime. The stakes are high. We are a nation at war: a global war on terror against an enemy unlike we've ever known before.

And here at home, wages are falling, health care costs are rising, and our great middle class is shrinking. People are working weekends -- two jobs, three jobs -- and they're still not getting ahead.

We're told that outsourcing jobs is good for America. We're told that jobs that pay $9,000 less than the jobs that have been lost is the best that we can do. They say this is the best economy that we've ever had. And they say anyone who thinks otherwise is a pessimist.

Well, here is our answer: There is nothing more pessimistic than saying that America can't do better.

We can do better, and we will.

We're the optimists. For us, this is a country of the future. We're the can-do people.

And let's not forget what we did in the 1990s: We balanced the budget. We paid down the debt. We created 23 million new jobs. We lifted millions out of poverty. And we lifted the standard of living for the middle class.

We just need to believe in ourselves and we can do it again.

So tonight, in the city where America's freedom began, only a few blocks from where the sons and daughters of liberty gave birth to our nation, here tonight, on behalf of a new birth of freedom, on behalf of the middle class who deserve a champion, and those struggling to join it who deserve a fair shot, for the brave men and women in uniform who risk their lives every day and the families who pray for their return, for all those who believe our best days are ahead of us, with great faith in the American people, I accept your nomination for president of the United States.

Thank you. I am proud that at my side will be a running mate whose life is the story of the American dream, and who's worked every day to make that dream real for all Americans, Senator John Edwards of North Carolina and his wife Elizabeth and their family. Thank you.

This son of a millworker is ready to lead.

And next January, Americans will be proud to have a fighter for the middle class to succeed Dick Cheney as vice president of the United States.

And what can I say about Teresa?

She has the strongest moral compass of anyone I know. She's down to earth, nurturing, courageous, wise and smart. She speaks her mind, and she speaks the truth, and I love her for that, too. And that's why America will embrace her as the next first lady of the United States.

For Teresa and me, no matter what the future holds or the past has given us, nothing will ever mean as much as our children as you can sense listening to them. We love them, not just for who they are and what they've become, but for being themselves, making us laugh, holding our feet to the fire and never letting me get away with anything.

Thank you, Andre, Alex, Chris, Vanessa and John.

And in this journey, I am accompanied by an extraordinary band of brothers led by that American hero, a patriot called Max Cleland.

Our band of brothers doesn't march together because of who we are as veterans, but because of what we learned as soldiers.

We fought for this nation because we loved it, and we came back with the deep belief that every day is extra. We may be a little older, we may be a little grayer, but we still know how to fight for our country.

And standing with us in that fight . . . standing with us in that fight are those who shared with me the long season of the primary campaign: Carol Moseley Braun, General Wesley Clark, Howard Dean . . . Dick Gephardt, Bob Graham, Dennis Kucinich, Joe Lieberman, Al Sharpton.

To all of you, I say thank you for teaching me and testing me. But mostly, we say thank you for standing up for our country and for giving us the unity to move America forward.

My fellow Americans, the world tonight is very different from the world of four years ago. But I believe the American people are more than equal to the challenge.

Remember the hours after September 11th when we came together as one to answer the attack against our homeland. We drew strength when our firefighters ran up stairs and risked their lives so that others might live; when rescuers rushed into smoke and fire at the Pentagon; when the men and women of Flight 93 sacrificed themselves to save our nation's Capitol; when flags were hanging from front porches all across America, and strangers became friends. It was the worst day we have ever seen, but it brought out the best in all of us.

I am proud that after September 11th all our people rallied to President Bush's call for unity to meet the danger.

There were no Democrats. There were no Republicans. There were only Americans. And how we wish it had stayed that way.

Now, I know that there are those who criticize me for seeing complexities -- and I do -- because some issues just aren't all that simple. Saying there are weapons of mass destruction in Iraq doesn't make it so. Saying we can fight a war on the cheap doesn't make it so. And proclaiming "mission accomplished" certainly doesn't make it so.

As president, I will ask the hard questions and demand hard evidence. I will immediately reform the intelligence system, so policy is guided by facts and facts are never distorted by politics.

And as president, I will bring back this nation's time-honored tradition: The United States of America never goes to war because we want to; we only go to war because we have to. That is the standard of our nation.

I know what kids go through when they are carrying an M-16 in a dangerous place, and they can't tell friend from foe. I know what they go through when they're out on patrol at night and they don't know what's coming around the next bend. I know what it's like to write letters home telling your family that everything's all right, when you're not sure that that's true.

As president, I will wage this war with the lessons I learned in war. Before you go to battle, you have to be able to look a parent in the eye and truthfully say, "I tried everything possible to avoid sending your son or daughter into harm's way, but we had no choice . . . we had to protect the American people, fundamental American values against a threat that was real and imminent."

So, lesson number one, this is the only justification for going to war.

And on my first day in office, I will send a message to every man and woman in our armed forces: You will never be asked to fight a war without a plan to win the peace.

I know what we have to do in Iraq. We need a president who has the credibility to bring our allies to our side and share the burden, reduce the cost to American taxpayers, reduce the risk to American soldiers. That's the right way to get the job done and bring our troops home.

Here is the reality: That won't happen until we have a president who restores America's respect and leadership so we don't have to go it alone in the world.

And we need to rebuild our alliances so we can get the terrorists before they get us.