\u201cCharacter is like a tree and reputation like its shadow. The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI desire so to conduct the affairs of this administration that if at the end, when I come to lay down the reins of power, I have lost every other friend on earth, I shall at least have one friend left, and that friend shall be down inside me.\u201d \u2013 Abraham Lincoln<\/p>\n
I have seen a lot in my 72 years that has tested us as Americans: Korea, the bomb, Sputnik, Khrushchev at the U.N., the Cuban missile crisis, presidential assassination, the Freedom riders, Vietnam, Kent State, George Wallace, personally staring down East Germans across a barbed-wire lined tank trap, Watts, Rodney King, the Arab oil embargo and 9\/11 to name a few.<\/p>\n
During all this, I never doubted American ideals and freedom would survive. I\u2019m no longer sure of that fact. In November, our nation faces a struggle for its soul. It\u2019s a struggle we and future generations can\u2019t afford to lose.<\/p>\n
\u201cCharacter is that which reveals moral purpose, exposing the class of things a man chooses and avoids.\u201d \u2014 Aristotle<\/p>\n
Never before has our country so needed men and women of character in public office at all levels of government. I believe this to be the defining moment in history for this generation. Will you join me in November and cast your ballot for character?<\/p>\n