please give a warm welcome for a

battery intensive care nurse at university medical center. ms. jerri strasser. appreciates applause, but it's not about me today. my name is jerri strasser. i'm a pediatric intensive care nurse at university medical center. the county hospital here in clark county. i my choice for working at university medical center. 26 years ago, the day i left nursing school was because i believe in universal health care. i believe in the ability to have medical care, whether you have money in your wallet or not, whether you have an insurance policy that's going to let you have that care.

i, i had two opportunity to meet senator edwards. the second one being in november. he had an impromptu question and answer session. we sat down across from him. and my question wasn't about policy. my question was, if i work hard every day because i work hard every day and i can work every day because, you know, there's a shortage of nurses. so if i work hard every day for you, senator, how do i know that when you wake up the day after the inauguration that you are not going to work hard for me and he thought about it for a minute, wasn't can wasn't scripted. he said, first of all, i'll never forget you. i'm committed. i will work for you. he looked me in the eye and you know what? he was committed. he is committed to all of us having what we deserve. we deserve health care.

we deserve the right to retire. we deserve to have a president who works for us every single da just like we work for this country. senator edwards puts people first. and so i am committed to him as he's committed to us. so who's going to stand with me and stand with with senator edwards as he becomes the next president of the united states of america and stands for working people stand up, stand up. senator edwards. senator john edwards, the next president of the united states of america. and.

how are you. how are you. how are you. thank you. hey, how are you? hey, man. boy. you so rob and mary side. i'll do whatever for we like. it was great to see you again. thank you for last night. and then. why did good morning thank you. guys thank you.

i. owe him you're my president. thank you very much. thank you. thank you. thank you. thank you. thank you. oh. yeah. thank you. thank you. thank you. thank you. thank you. and thank you jay for the introduction. thank you for being here. very proud to have great health care workers like jerry supporting me and proud to be here with all of you today. not long before the caucus on saturday, right. and we're excited. we're excited about excited

about what's going on. i just want to recognize my daughter, kate, who's with me hiding in the corner over there. you know, i don't know how many of you been following this, but one of the things that happened in the debate a couple of nights ago is the caucus goers in nevada actually saw that there weren't two candidates for president. there were three. and there was there was this there's this back and forth that's been going on over the last 24 hours or so between senator clinton and senator obama, with senator clinton saying what we need in a president is somebody who knows how to run the bureaucracy, somebody who knows how to manage, somebody who knows how to shuffle the papers around. and senator obama saying, now what we really need is a president of united states who knows how to give a great speech

here. here's here's what i think. i think what we need in the next president of united states is somebody with some guts and fight and determination. and that's what we do. because you've heard. thank you for that. i thought so, too, but thank you. thank you. actually did. well, thank you. say it loud so everybody can here. i was in a focus group, one of the primary the debate news, another big night in the debate. and speaking of primaries, as i said, i think want. let's just say and he was in a focus group and i won the debate. according to the focus group, the night of the debate. but but i didn't realize i was turning him loose to give a whole speech. i didn't mean that that now what

was i talking about? i lost about. oh, i do. now, here's what here's what i believe. what i believe is, as you've heard me say before, we have extraordinarily well-financed, entrenched interests that stand between america and change. you know, drug companies, insurance companies. the idea that they're going to go away and give up so long as we shuffle some papers around, that will never happen. the idea that the drug companies insurance companies will go away because somebody gives a good speech, that will never happen. the only way we're going to have real and meaningful health care reform in this country, the only way we're going to have truly universal health care for every man, woman and child is to have a president of united states who will stand up to those people and who will fight for you. that is the only way it's ever going to happen. and i also want to mention one

other thing that happened yesterday. some of you may have seen this in the media. but senator obama, when speaking, used ronald reagan, president ronald reagan as an example of change. now now, my view is i would never use ronald reagan as an example of change. i mean you think about what ronald reagan did to america, to the american people, to the middle class, to working people. he was openly open only intolerant of unions and the right to organize. he openly fought against the union and the organized labor movement in this country. he openly did extraordinary damage to the middle class and working people, created a tax structure that favored the very wealthiest americans and caused the middle class and working people to struggle every single day.

this direction, the environment, you know, eliminating the regulation of companies that were polluting and doing extraordinary damage to the environment, whether it was damage to the union movement in the organized labor movement, damage to the middle class, the tax structure that favored the wealthiest americans and the biggest corporations in america, or the incredible devastation to the environment. while he was in proudly as president of the united states, i can promise you this. this president will never use ronald reagan as an example for change. but how do we bring about the change specifically in care that we so desperately need in this country? because we've all example after example of people whose lives have been devastated by health care. you know what we've seen half the bankruptcies in america are

the result of health care costs. we got 47 million people with no health care coverage. we got many millions more who are terrified they're going to lose their health care coverage, insurance premiums are up over 100% over the course of the last decade or so. our health care system is broken. it does not work. and we need to be willing to tell the truth about it and to do what's necessary to change it. now, the question is, why don't we have universal health care? well, we don't have it because it drug companies, insurance companies and their lobbyists. that's why we don't have it. i'm very proud of the fact that among the three of us, senator clinton, senator obama and myself, i am the only candidate who in my entire time in public life has never taken a dime from a washington lobbyist or a special interest pac.

and, you know, people talk about change. we desperately need change in this country. we do. but when did our party change. when did we become the party of big corporate money? when did we become the party that takes more money from drug companies, iurance companies, lobbies us than the republicans? that's not the democratic party. that's not who we are. we're the party of the people. we fight for the people against these entrenched interests that prevent the change that we need. and that's what i mean when i say nothing will change if we just exchange a kind of crowd of corporate republicans for corporate democrats. we have to actually take the democracy back for the american people. that's what this election is about. you know, i met this family a

couple of weeks ago. some of you will remember this story because it was in the news as the family of a young named natalie sarkisian. she was 17 years old and she needed a liver transplant operation and she had health care coverage. her dad worked, paid the premiums for years and years. but when it came time for her need for a liver transplant, the insurance company said, no, they would not pay for it. the the family appealed and they said no. the doctors intervened. their nurses intervened, saying she needs this operation. finally, people started literally marching in front of the insurance company's offices in order to get them to change their mind. and they caved in, ultimately. but they gave day and notified the family that they'd pay for the for the liver transplant operation. and she died a few hours later, because it was too late. you know, how can it be in the united states of america that good people, working people, pay their insurance premiums every that they do? exactly what they're supposed to

do. and then when their child needs a life saving operation, the insurance company says no. you know, this is what i mean when i say shuffling papers around in managing or giving a speech will never change anything. the only way we're going to see real change is sitting at a table with those people and negotiating. no, the only way that anything will change, the only way we're going to have universal health care, the only way we're going to have a patients bill of rights so that families like natalee eads actually can make their own health care decisions. the only way any of that is ever going to happen is to have a president of united states with a little backbone and guts and fight. who will stand up to those people and stand up for the american people. and i want make sure that all of you know, in every nevada caucus goers knows that this is a fight

i've been in my entire life. you know, growing up the way i did in mill towns and mill villages in my early years, i had to fight just to survive for myself. but then i spent 20 years in courtrooms fighting for families and children against these very same entrenched interests. we would walk into the courtroom. it'd be us on one side, and on the other side would be all the army of lawyers representing some of the biggest corporations in america. with all the money in the world arrayed behind them. and i learned some things traumatic experience. one thing i learned is you can't nice these people to death. it doesn't work. but the other thing i learned is if you've got some substrate and determination and if you're willing to fight and if you're smart, willing to work hard enough, you can win. you can beat these people, of course, for 20 years. we went into courtrooms time after time after time and won. that's exactly what we need in the next president. somebody who will unite the american people, who will

galvanize the american people, and who's willing to take on fight. what kind of health care do we need? we need mandate rated health care for every man woman and child in this country. and i do want to say, you know, this gets lost in the shuffle sometimes of of listening to democratic presidential candidates talk. but i do want to say, if your health care plan is not universal, if it doesn't require that every man, woman and child in america be covered in my. it does not do the job. and senator obama has a plan that is not universal. it could leave as many as 15 million americans without health care coverage. every american. i want somebody to explain to me what american, what family, what child is not entitled to health care coverage. because i think every american is worthy of health care coverage. and if you believe that, then the proposal and the plan has to

actually be universal to cover everybody. now, here's what my proposal does. first, i first of all, i point out i was the first one. last february, almost a year ago now, to come out with a universal health care plan. i'm proud of that. but it mandates coverage for every man, woman and child required by law. it covers up the cracks in the system, which means things like preexisting conditions are bad as a matter of law. it means mental health parity. we treat mental health exam really the same way we treat physical health means weak. we cover preventive care, chronic care, long term care, dental care, vision care. and everybody gets to take their health care with them wherever they go. in other words, if you change jobs, your health care goes with you. if you move, if you get laid off, the whole idea is cradle to grave health care coverage for every man and woman in this

country. so we don't have to worry. that if you change jobs or you get laid off or you move, that you somehow lose your health care coverage. now, let me just a truth moment. my plan is not free. i don't claim it's free. it costs 90 to $120 billion a year, but it's paid for by getting rid of bush's tax cuts for people who make over $200,000 a year. but these are the causes that this election is about? it's about natalie. and it's about the 47 million people who have no health care coverage. it's about america meeting its moral responsibility to future generations by actually leading in attacking the moral crisis of global warming. america must be leading, not being dragged, kicking or screaming. and by the way, i hope somebody ask me all day exactly what i think we should do. but by the way, we can create at

least a million new jobs as we get off our carbon based economy and move to clean, renewable sources of energy. and it is about strengthening and growing the middle class. this fight for growing the middle class, for making sure the middle class is strong and vibrant in this country, is central. everything i'm doing in this campaign, lifting millions of people out of poverty so that we grow and strengthen the middle class, making certain that middle class workers can organize themselves into unions contrary to what ronald reagan did, standing up for the right to organize, changing the laws, strengthening the rights to collectively bargain. you know, i have been in the last few years involved over 200 times and collective bargaining efforts in organizing efforts, walking picket lines, because i believe deeply in this cause. i think if we're going to grow

the middle class, we must strengthen and grow the organized labor movement in america. and if we're going to lift millions of americans out of poverty and i was the first to make a commitment that over the next three decades, we take every step necessary to try to end poverty in the united states of america. we got the minimum wage was finally raised by the congress. it's got to go to 725 an hour sponsored, not enough. minimum wage ought to be at least nine and a half dollars an hour. it should be indexed to go up on its own. we've seen this extraordinary mortgage crisis, mortgage foreclosure crisis right here in nevada. no places worse. it's become you've got all these people who come to nevada thousands and thousands who come here looking for a good job, trying to support families,

build a better life for their children and their grandchildren. and now many families here are losing the single biggest thing that they own. what they've worked in work to be able to accumulate during their lives. we've got to, first of all, have a national, not state national predatory lending law that cracks down on these predators and payday lenders. but we've also got to give them refinance options. we've got to change the bankruptcy laws to give the bankruptcy court the power to restructure these loans. we need a national home rescue fund to help with some transitional finance and counseling for these families. we have to provide the help that these families need. what about sending kids to college? you look at what's happening in america today. college tuition going up every single year. and you see what's a lot of kids can't afford to go to college and those who can't afford to go are terrified.

it's going to take them forever to pay back all that debt they accumulate from going to school. here's my deal. it's called college for everyone. where say to every young person in america, if you graduate from high school, qualified to go to college and commit to work when you're there, at least 10 hours a week, america pays your tuition in books at a state university or a community college. and by the way, we've actually we've actually put a model of this in place. and a small county in eastern north carolina where we raise the money for it privately. and so far, it's working very well because what it does is it means that young people have to actually work. you don't give it to them. and second, they don't graduate from college with so much crushing burden of debt. i want to talk about two other things, and then i'm going to start taking your questions. one is, i haven't said anything about the war in iraq. i want to be very clear about something. the first year that i'm president, the united states, we

will bring this war in iraq to an end. and to be more specific, i will get all combat troops out of iraq in my first year. we will end all combat missions and there will be no permanent military bases in iraq. have lots of other ideas and have a clear vision of what i think america should be doing in the world beyond iraq. but love it. if one of you want to ask me

about it. but i want to start taking your questions. i to end with one last thought. you know, i see what's happening in america today, and i love this country so much. and it's all of you love it so much. but this is the picture that i see. i see an america where last year exxonmobil made. $40 billion and one year, $40 billion record profits. the ceo of one of the largest health insurance companies in america made $200 million and one year, $200 million. and i take that picture of america and i put it side by side with this picture, an america where tonight, 47 million of our people will go to bed knowing if their child gets sick, that they're going to have to go to the emergency room and beg for health care. women who tomorrow will conduct an exam with themselves, a self-exam and find a lump in their breast. and like my wife, elizabeth did, will discover that they have breast cancer. but unlike us, we have great

care coverage. some of these women will have no health care coverage. where are they supposed to go? where are they supposed to go? what are they supposed to do? every woman in this room knows you can't get chemotherapy therapy in the emergency room and they're terrified. absolutely terrified. tomorrow, 37 million people will wake up in this country literally worried about feeding and clothing their children and living in poverty. i was at a shelter a few weeks ago where they took in single moms with their children. it was an amazing, wonderful place. and the people who ran it were wonderful. but i ask, do you ever have to send families away? and they said, yes, sometimes we had sent 70, 75 families away just a few months ago, and they said so when you send them away, these are parent mothers with kids. yes, i'm up as many as three or four children. i said, where did they go? to the street, back to cars. children living on the street in america.

well, exxon mobil makes $40 billion last year, 35 million people went hungry in this country. that's the population of california. roughly 35 million people going hungry in the richest nation on the planet. and tonight, 200,000 men and women who wore our uniform on. veterans will go to sleep under bridges and on grates. over 4000 right here in las vegas. we're better than this. and enough is enough. it's time for us to stand up. it's time for us to speak out. it is time for us say we want an america where everybody gets a chance. where everybody gets a real opportunity. that's what this election is about. that's what we're fighting for. that's all of us are fighting for. and together, we're going to create that kind of america. god bless you all. thank you for being here.