Senate Primary Victory Speech- June 8, 2010

My good friends. I have heard your message loud and clear. The people of California have had enough. In fact, I think they can hear you all the way to Washington D.C.

From the moment I declared my candidacy, over seven thousand volunteers, over 20 coalitions, 12 thousand donors, and a tireless, hard-working staff have made this the greatest team effort I have ever had the privilege to be a part of. All of you worked together to make tonight a reality, and I owe you a debt of gratitude that is very difficult for me to express.

While I cannot thank all of you, there is one very special person who has been my running mate for over 25 years now. My husband, Frank, the rock of my life.

I want to begin tonight by acknowledging two committed Republicans who also have sacrificed and worked hard for the cause of victory in November: Chuck DeVore and Tom Campbell. We all fought hard for the privilege of this office, and I salute them for their determined work to change the course of America, and I look very much forward to their help and their support in the common cause we now share. And congratulations as well to my good friend and colleague, Meg Whitman.

California will now be offered two candidates at the top of our ticket who have actually created jobs and cut costs, and we look forward to taking on the two career politicians on the other side.

But the teamwork that has brought us here cannot end here tonight, and so as we celebrate -and it looks like you’ve been having a heckuva party here celebrating- let us remember that beginning tomorrow and through November 2nd, we are going to run a tireless, fearless campaign all across California to finally unseat Barbara Boxer.

[Crowd chants]

In her 28 years as a career politician in Washington D.C., Barbara Boxer is a bitter partisan who has said much but accomplished little. She may get an A for politics, but she gets an F for achievement. Nevertheless, Barbara Boxer has actually said one thing that I agree with. She said recently that this election offers the clearest choice in the nation, and I could not agree more.

Her far-left views place her on the very fringe of American politics, and our differences could not be greater. Quite simply, this election is about the future, not the past. For three decades in Congress, Boxer has personified the entrenched, stale arrogance of someone who has long forgotten that here in America, the people rule, not the government.

When she dressed down that general in front of the cameras, she displayed all of the destructive elitism that is so disquieting to the people of California, and when she made a rare trip to California to fill her campaign [unintelligible], she said the reason for her poor approval ratings was because the voters of California were grumpy about the economy. I think that is the first time that Barbara Boxer may have been guilty of understatement.

Nearly two and a half million Californians are out of work, many of them for over six months. Hundreds and thousands more have simply quit looking for work. There are boarded up storefronts all across California, there are food lines in our great San Joaquin Valley, and businesses, large and small, are leaving this state at record rates.

And do you remember, as I do, that Barbara Boxer voted for a so-called stimulus package that she promised would reduce unemployment to eight percent or less? She has become so tone-deaf

about reality that she has deluded herself into believing that the word “grumpy” actually describes the desperation and despair caused by big government folly, big government bailouts and the buildup of 13 trillion dollars of national debt.

It is precisely this kind of old politics, the failure to listen, the failure to understand, that has caused tens of millions of Americans to feel betrayed. Our fellow citizens feel betrayed by the distant and isolated politics of incumbency, entrenchment and incompetence. This election is also about big differences, between the kind of people we are and what we believe. I believe that each person, everywhere, has enormous potential if they are given the freedom and the opportunity to fulfill it. Barbara Boxer believes that it is government that promotes potential, not the individual.

I believe in lower taxes, so that we the people can best decide how to spend and invest our hard earned dollars. She believes that government can best decide how to spend your income. All together now. [Crowd boos.] I believe that small businesses and entrepreneurs are the lifeblood of our country and the engine to get our economy moving again, and she believes that massive government spending and massive deficits are the answer.

I believe in the honor and the heroism that has distinguished our armed services. From the day she entered Congress, Barbara Boxer has been a loud and cynical critic of America's military, repeatedly voting to cut off or reduce the resources that our fighting men and women need to effectively combat our enemies. And she has stood silently by as Isreal is condemned and threatened and Iran moves toward nuclear weapons.

This campaign is also going to be about what works and what doesn’t work. About action and results versus rhetoric and failure. Twenty-first century issues and realities require the common sense, good judgment, new ideas and perspective that come from the real-world experience that I bring to the table. Barbara Boxer thinks the real world revolves around a couple of square miles in a vast, unaccountable bureaucracy in Washington, D.C. Listen, my fellow Californians, I promise you this, from day one in the U.S. Senate, I will be relentless in fighting for every job, and I will start by making it easier, not harder, for small businesses, family businesses, innovators and entrepreneurs to do what they do best, which is to create private-sector jobs and build the American dream.