Sen. Patrick Leahy sent the following letter to Vermonters this week…

February 1, 2008

Dear Fellow Vermonter,

I ask you to join me in supporting Senator Barack Obama for President.

Barack Obama has the uncommon ability to lift us up, pull us together, and lead us forward at
a time when the challenges seem to be multiplying by the day. For the good of our country,
and for the good of our children and grandchildren, I hope you will join me in embracing this
opportunity.

The biggest national security test of recent years is the war in Iraq. It is important to me
that Barack Obama opposed the war from day one. Like so many of my fellow
Vermonters, Senator Obama knew from the beginning that the case for war was not made, it
would not make us safer and it would distract our armed forces from bringing Osama bin
Laden to justice. This is the kind of judgment we need from our next president.

One of the first challenges our next President will face is to reintroduce America to the
rest of the world, no one is better prepared for that mission than Barack Obama. Barack
believes that America must lead through strength, a strength that includes the finest military
force in the world. But Barack has also pledged to be a world leader who will talk to our
adversaries as well as our friends, a president who put diplomacy first and military intervention
as our last resort. This is the kind of world leader we need in our next president.

John F. Kennedy once said that we should not let our fears hold us back from pursuing our
hopes. Barack Obama offers us the hope that we will end the war in Iraq, that our children
will have the education they need to succeed in an economy that continues to change all
around them, that access to quality health insurance will become available to all and that our
great resources will be harnessed to finding cures for cancer, diabetes, AIDS and Alzheimer’s.
It is long past time we replaced the politics of fear with the politics of hope. Barack
Obama is a different kind of leader – he would be a President who lifts us up to confidently
meet the challenges of our times, enlisting our better angels in pursuit of goals worthy of this
good and great nation, goals that are bigger than ourselves.

Many spoke early on about the improbability of Senator Obama’s candidacy for President. I
know a few things about improbable campaigns. I was a 34-year-old prosecutor from a state
that had never elected a Democrat to the Senate when I made the decision to run. I did so
because I believed that in the wake of Watergate our nation needed fresh leadership that could
help move our country out of those dark days.

The American Dream is based on a belief that we can turn improbabilities into possibilities.
Our nation is moving out of another dark time in its history, and I believe the improbable
campaign of Barack Obama offers just the sort of possibility our nations needs. I believe we
will look back at this time and see even more clearly than we do today the convergence
of this leader and this moment.

Please join me in supporting Barack Obama today by making a contribution to his campaign
$250, $100, $50 —- whatever you can afford:

DONATE ONLINE

Barack Obama represents the America we once were and want to be again—leading with
hope, opening the doors of opportunity to all, realizing the potential of our great nation for its
citizens and as a leader of the free world. Barack Obama will be a President who once again
helps us believe, “Yes, we can.”

Thank you for your support and friendship. Marcelle and I look forward to seeing you again
soon.

Sincerely,

PATRICK LEAHY
UNITED STATES SENATOR