James Carville Dear Gilles Daymery, [sic] As our new Democratic nominee prepares to offer a new vision for America, a dire emergency is unfolding. George W. Bush, unopposed for the Republican nomination, has raised almost $200 million, and this money is about to be unleashed in an onslaught of negative ads. To fund these ads, the Bush campaign has more money than was spent on television ads by both candidates in the entire 2000 general election campaign. They know they won't win if George W. Bush and our nominee stand toe-to-toe and debate America's future. So this time, instead of stealing the election at the last moment, they're going to try to steal it at the front end -- bloody our candidate with a brutal and deeply personal attack campaign before the Conventions ever take place. Unless the Democratic National Committee can raise the funds to defend our nominee, set the record straight and offer a more positive vision for America, we could lose this election campaign before it even begins. That is why I am sending you this emergency appeal, asking you to join Democrats across America in fighting back. You know as well as I do why we can't afford to lose this campaign. If we give George W. Bush and his crowd four more years in office, we won't recognize the America they've created. They destroyed good jobs and spent the surplus. Faster than you can say "tax breaks for the wealthy," they have turned huge budget surpluses into the largest budget deficits in American history. What about the money we needed to save Social Security and Medicare for future generations? Too bad. Now, there is nothing but deficits as far as the eye can see. Democrats created 20 million jobs in eight years. But now three million Americans have lost their jobs since George W. Bush started mismanaging our economy. They're privatizing Medicare. They're telling people that to get the drug benefits they need, they have to abandon Medicare as we know it and leave their fate to a faceless HMO. Their new prescription drug law makes it illegal for Medicare to negotiate lower rates and a criminal act to import drugs from other countries where they sell for half the price. (And now they're spending nearly $10 million in taxpayer money for TV ads touting their disastrous bill.) The prescription drug companies spent $100 million to elect Republican candidates. Now, no one can count the billions they are going to reap from Bush's law that keeps their prices sky high. They've squandered our goodwill. When the other nations of the world reached a historic agreement to reduce global warming, Bush told them to shove it. He broke our agreements controlling military defenses. His administration is imposing a gag rule on global HIV/AIDS funding - no money to fight AIDS for organizations that dare to tell women the whole truth about family planning. America was once the object of admiration across the globe. Today, our nation is widely viewed with suspicion and contempt. Worst of all, they lie. They craft a plan to let polluters off the hook and call it their "Clear Skies" initiative. They clear the way for timber companies to destroy our public lands and call it their "Healthy Forests" plan. (Over, please) They say we can't pass our problems on to the next generation, then they create budget deficits that pour red ink all over our children's futures. They talk about racial equality, then they appoint judges with abysmal records on civil rights. Now we find ourselves in Iraq, with Americans dying almost every day. The president told us we needed war because he had evidence of a nuclear weapons program. But we know that evidence never existed at all. When you think of the Bush record, it is easy to become discouraged about our future. But if you think that George Bush has this election in the bag, you are absolutely wrong. I was the campaign manager for Bill Clinton's 1992 campaign, a campaign no one thought we could win. I know what it takes to defeat an incumbent president. Today, every poll in America shows that Americans are evenly divided about this election. Most voters deeply distrust the Bush domestic agenda and prefer Democratic proposals by a wide margin. When asked if the voters prefer Bush or the eventual Democratic nominee, the contest is a dead heat. But all of these reasons why we can win this election will amount to nothing if the Democratic National Committee cannot come to the rescue of our nominee in the weeks ahead. The same people who misled America about weapons of mass destruction are about to unload a campaign of untruth and deception on our new Democratic nominee. Our new nominee will finish the primaries broke and without a penny in the bank. To give our nominee a fighting chance, the DNC must raise the money to respond to charges, defend the truth, and most importantly, offer Americans a better vision for our nation's future. Your help is not just important. It is absolutely critical. Whatever you can give will make a difference. $20. $35. $50. $100. Anything. If we are going to win this election, it is now up to you. You can sit on your hands and watch the Bush campaign spend $200 million dollars to fund a vicious, relentless and untruthful attack on our presidential nominee. Or you can stand up and fight. You can watch them rob Social Security to fund more tax cuts for the rich, privatize Medicare and wreck the environment. Or you can decide you've had enough of government of, by, and for the wealthy and well-connected. You can give George W. Bush four more years to shape a Bush Supreme Court that will set limits on our democracy for decades to come. Or you can take the power to name Supreme Court justices out of his hands. I know in my heart that we are going to win this election this year. I know it because I believe there are millions of Democrats, just like you, who understand why this election is important and will not turn their backs on our nominee in this moment of need. Our nominee will win this election if you and I give him a fighting chance. Pull out your checkbook, write the most generous check you can afford to the DNC. Your check, right now, is our chance, our hope and our beginning for a campaign that can return a Democrat to the White House and win great Democratic victories, at every level, this fall. Sincerely, James Carville P.S. Trust me, the Republicans are not going to let their money burn a hole in their pocket. They'll be unleashing a million dollars a day in spending for five months straight. We better fight back with everything we've got. Your check, signed and mailed today, is the help we need to win.