 Say I Notice something that are already dressed that you will wait for us. Won't you? We got a change yet Well on behalf of my friends here Want to welcome all of you to the White House again? And seriously and first of all I want to thank you for the generosity and hard work that have made this when the evening is over the Most successful political fundraising event since the founding of the Republican Party Old Abe would have been proud Remember he was that young fellow that was president here about a hundred years ago But I also want to record and recognize Ted Welch the dinner chairman Drew Lewis the deputy dinner chairman and Jack McDonald the political action committee chairman our Pac-Man as it were For the tremendous job that they've done in putting this event together Our party seems to be gaining and strengthen numbers every day Used to be however that Republicans were something of an endangered species. I Didn't see anyone rushing to the ramparts to defend us I am reminded of a story When you've been around as long as I have everything remind you And I have a terrible fear that maybe I've told some of you this story before I Know there are two here at least who've heard it before But brace yourselves. We're all gonna hear it again has to do with an early congressman from Mississippi and thank I think maybe was the first Republican congressman and This was his first campaign and He was out touring the countryside and he came to a farm in his district and introduced himself to the farmer and told him that He was the Republican candidate for Congress and the farmer took one look at him his jaw dropped Then he turned running like a deer across the barnyard yelling ma ma And pretty soon here he came back with his wife. They both hurried back They stood hand in hand there in front of them and said you're the first Republican we ever saw And Then they asked him if he'd make a speech And he looked around for something to stand on in order to do a stump speech and the only thing there was a pile of that stuff that best Truman took 35 years in persuading her husband to call fertilizer So he climbed up on it and he made his speech and they listened when he stepped down They said that was the first time they'd ever heard a Republican speech and he said well, that's all right That's the first time I've ever given a Republican speech standing on a Democratic platform well There are a lot more Republicans these days partly because a a lot of People thought who were once Democrats thought better of it me for instance and still I don't have to tell you We have an uphill fight coming in 1986 22 Republican senators are up for reelection and Historically the party in power Democrat or Republican loses 40 to 50 house seats in a mid-term election At the same time the cost of running for a seat in Congress has increased 300 percent since 1976 and the Democrats claimed to be catching up with us in the fundraising race So we've got our work for cut out for us in the months ahead But I believe we have a unique opportunity in 1986 to Rewrite the book on mid-term elections. I don't mean just keeping control of the Senate either I think we have a shot. Maybe it's a long shot, but a shot at building a winning coalition in the house You noticed I said coalition because while they may not have re-registered you'd be surprised There's there's a little nucleus there that talks an awful lot like us And I think that Partly one of the reasons too that we have that chance is due to the nature of our opposition Sometimes I think Woodrow Wilson was able to foresee Today's house leadership when he said that quote every man who takes office in Washington either grows or swells Well, I think it's about time that we shrunk some of them down back to size and With your help, that's just what we intend to do in 86. So thank you again for your generosity It will make a big difference not only the future of our party But I think to the future of our country as well And I'm not gonna say any more because you're gonna have to hear me all over again later on I just want to thank you and God bless you all and now if you will let us go change We'll we'll join you at dinner Thank you