(With a tip of the blog to ChemBob for supplying the content.)

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Democratic Party of Georgia's Jefferson-Jackson Dinner

- March 1, 2001

Zell Miller:

It is good to be back in Georgia and to be with you. I have been coming
to these dinners since the 1950s, and have missed very few.

I'm proud to be Georgia's junior senator and I'm honored to serve with
Max Cleland, who is as loved and respected as anyone in that body. One
of our very highest priorities must be to make sure this man is
re-elected in 2002 so he can continue to serve this state and nation.

I continue to be impressed with all that Governor Barnes and Lieutenant
Governor Taylor and the Speaker and the General Assembly are getting
done over at the Gold Dome. Georgia is fortunate to have this kind of
leadership.

My job tonight is an easy one: to present to you one of this nation's
authentic heroes, one of this party's best-known and greatest leaders -
and a good friend.

He was once a lieutenant governor - but he didn't stay in that office
16 years, like someone else I know. It just took two years before the
people of Massachusetts moved him into the United States Senate in
1984.

In his 16 years in the Senate, John Kerry has fought against government
waste and worked hard to bring some accountability to Washington.

Early in his Senate career in 1986, John signed on to the
Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Deficit Reduction Bill, and he fought for
balanced budgets before it was considered politically correct for
Democrats to do so.

John has worked to strengthen our military, reform public education,
boost the economy and protect the environment. Business Week magazine
named him one of the top pro-technology legislators and made him a
member of its "Digital Dozen."

John was re-elected in 1990 and again in 1996 - when he defeated
popular Republican Governor William Weld in the most closely watched
Senate race in the country.

John is a graduate of Yale University and was a gunboat officer in the
Navy. He received a Silver Star, Bronze Star and three awards of the
Purple Heart for combat duty in Vietnam. He later co-founded the
Vietnam Veterans of America.

He is married to Teresa Heinz and they have two daughters.

As many of you know, I have great affection - some might say an
obsession - for my two Labrador retrievers, Gus and Woodrow. It turns
out John is a fellow dog lover, too, and he better be. His German
Shepherd, Kim, is about to have puppies. And I just want him to know...
Gus and Woodrow had nothing to do with that.

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