THIS IS a defining moment. At a time when our nation is at war and our American dream is slipping away, we cannot settle for the status quo. In this election, West Virginia can stand for change.

I've spent over two decades working for change from the bottom up. I fought for jobs as an organizer on the streets of Chicago when the local steel plant closed. I stood up as a civil rights lawyer for people who were denied opportunity at work or justice at the voting booth. I helped expand health care to hundreds of thousands of families, and gave a tax cut to working people in Illinois. I opposed this war in Iraq from the beginning, and when I got to Washington I stood up to the special interests to help pass the most far-reaching lobbying reform since Watergate.

I chose to run for president because I believed that the size of our challenges had outgrown the capacity of our broken politics to solve them. We cannot afford four more years of the same divisive fights in Washington that are more about scoring points than solving problems. We're not going to make progress if we continue to have a system driven by special interests.

West Virginia knows we need less tough talk and more sound judgment on national security. We can't afford the same politics of fear that tells Democrats that the only way to look tough is to talk, act, and vote like George Bush and John McCain. When I am president, I will end a war in Iraq that I opposed from the start, give our troops and military families the support they have earned, and finish the fight in Afghanistan.

And when our sons and daughters return home, we must keep faith with West Virginia's 200,000 veterans. My grandfather enlisted after Pearl Harbor and went on to march in Patton's Army, and went to college on the GI Bill. Keeping our sacred trust with our veterans is personal to me, and I vow to keep our promise to our veterans. As president I will improve care from enlistment through retirement and beyond. As a member of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, I have worked with my colleagues to fight for better treatment and screening for our troops and their families, and I will make sure we keep our sacred trust with our veterans who have served our country so bravely and honorably.

We need to restore fairness to our economy. When I'm president, we'll give a tax cut to more than 900,000 hardworking West Virginians, and help struggling families keep their homes. We'll provide universal health care for all and cut the cost of a typical family's premiums by up to $2,500 a year. I'm from the coal state of Illinois, and I'll invest in clean coal technology, which is vital to our economy and our energy future.

We'll make college affordable so every American can get the skills to compete in our global economy. And we'll turn the page on over two decades of trade and economic policies that have favored Wall Street over Main Street and damaged West Virginia's steel industry. It's time to stop giving tax breaks to companies that ship jobs overseas and start giving them to companies that create jobs here at home. And it's time to invest in the green energy jobs and in 21st century infrastructure - like roads and bridges - that can put Americans to work, safeguard our security, and connect our communities.

My family didn't have much when I was growing up, but they gave me love, a good education, and hope - hope that in this country, no dream is beyond our grasp if we reach for it, and fight for it, and work for it. And the reason I'm running for president is to put the American dream within reach for every family in West Virginia, and in this country.

Obama is a candidate for the Democratic nomination for president.

THIS IS a defining moment. At a time when our nation is at war and our American dream is slipping away, we cannot settle for the status quo. In this election, West Virginia can stand for change.

I've spent over two decades working for change from the bottom up. I fought for jobs as an organizer on the streets of Chicago when the local steel plant closed. I stood up as a civil rights lawyer for people who were denied opportunity at work or justice at the voting booth. I helped expand health care to hundreds of thousands of families, and gave a tax cut to working people in Illinois. I opposed this war in Iraq from the beginning, and when I got to Washington I stood up to the special interests to help pass the most far-reaching lobbying reform since Watergate.

I chose to run for president because I believed that the size of our challenges had outgrown the capacity of our broken politics to solve them. We cannot afford four more years of the same divisive fights in Washington that are more about scoring points than solving problems. We're not going to make progress if we continue to have a system driven by special interests.

West Virginia knows we need less tough talk and more sound judgment on national security. We can't afford the same politics of fear that tells Democrats that the only way to look tough is to talk, act, and vote like George Bush and John McCain. When I am president, I will end a war in Iraq that I opposed from the start, give our troops and military families the support they have earned, and finish the fight in Afghanistan.

And when our sons and daughters return home, we must keep faith with West Virginia's 200,000 veterans. My grandfather enlisted after Pearl Harbor and went on to march in Patton's Army, and went to college on the GI Bill. Keeping our sacred trust with our veterans is personal to me, and I vow to keep our promise to our veterans. As president I will improve care from enlistment through retirement and beyond. As a member of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, I have worked with my colleagues to fight for better treatment and screening for our troops and their families, and I will make sure we keep our sacred trust with our veterans who have served our country so bravely and honorably.

We need to restore fairness to our economy. When I'm president, we'll give a tax cut to more than 900,000 hardworking West Virginians, and help struggling families keep their homes. We'll provide universal health care for all and cut the cost of a typical family's premiums by up to $2,500 a year. I'm from the coal state of Illinois, and I'll invest in clean coal technology, which is vital to our economy and our energy future.

We'll make college affordable so every American can get the skills to compete in our global economy. And we'll turn the page on over two decades of trade and economic policies that have favored Wall Street over Main Street and damaged West Virginia's steel industry. It's time to stop giving tax breaks to companies that ship jobs overseas and start giving them to companies that create jobs here at home. And it's time to invest in the green energy jobs and in 21st century infrastructure - like roads and bridges - that can put Americans to work, safeguard our security, and connect our communities.

My family didn't have much when I was growing up, but they gave me love, a good education, and hope - hope that in this country, no dream is beyond our grasp if we reach for it, and fight for it, and work for it. And the reason I'm running for president is to put the American dream within reach for every family in West Virginia, and in this country.

Obama is a candidate for the Democratic nomination for president.