Republican Primary Senate Celebratory Speech - August 4, 2012

The issue that’s going to decide this election is who is best able to address the economic crisis that threatens our future and who best understands how to create jobs for the over 150,000 people who wake up every morning in our state without a job.

Folks, there is so much at stake in this election, perhaps more than ever before. Washington is out of control. And it’s not too much to say that America’s future is on the line. And I truly believe that my life work and experience has prepared me to face this challenge.

I’m running to be your senator because I am passionate about preserving opportunity for everyone to participate in the American Dream as I have. [applause] And I’m running because I also see what people all across Connecticut are seeing. We see our opportunities slipping away. We see a future that’s less hopeful. We see an America that’s not working because Americans aren’t working.

America not working is 1.5% growth, it’s 8.3% unemployment, and it’s food and gas prices on the rise again. The result of America not working is over 150,000 people in Connecticut without jobs and with little help in sight. This is not only unacceptable, it is unworthy of America. [applause]

So from now until Election Day, I will have a message for every citizen in Connecticut. That message is “we will do better.” We can-[applause] we can and we will do much better. We are not doomed to live in this perpetual stagnation. We do not have to resign ourselves to failed leadership. We have it within our power to restore America, restore stronger growth to our economy, jobs to our people, and a future where our children and grandchildren are not crushed by impossible debt.

The history of America is not about accepting mediocrity, it’s about America uniting, overcoming, and astonishing the world because let me remind you that the only footprints on the moon are American footprints.