Braun enters race for president

WASHINGTON -- Carol Moseley Braun formally announced Monday that she was seeking the presidency of the United States, contrasting herself, as a black woman, with the otherwise all-male pool of Democratic candidates.

Speaking with the poise that has characterized her performance at the Democratic debates, Braun, who is the only black woman to have served in the Senate, promoted themes of "partnerships for peace, prosperity and progress" and an "American renaissance" in her announcement tour to colleges in the nation's capital, South Carolina and her home state of Illinois.

While she spoke about improving education and reviving job growth, Braun offered specifics only on health care, advocating a universal single-payer health-care system, a proposal she has raised in the presidential debates. She also said she was one who had used "new ideas to solve old problems" throughout a political career that spanned county, state and national government.

Like many other Democratic candidates, she took swipes at the Bush administration for its pre-emptive military actions in Iraq and its limitations on privacy in a post-Sept. 11 world. "America is at a tipping point," said Braun, who served as ambassador to New Zealand and Samoa after losing her Senate seat in 1998 to close a tumultuous single term. "If we are going to stay on the course we are on, we are not going to recognize this country five years from now."

Braun has been a contentious figure whose actions in her campaign for the Senate in 1992 and her term in office were the subjects of allegations. She was the target of an investigation that was later dropped by the Federal Election Commission for supposedly spending tens of thousands of dollars in campaign donations on travel, clothes, jewelry and stereo equipment. She was criticized in 1996 for meeting with Sani Abacha, Nigeria's brutal dictator.

Braun later attributed some of her problems to naivete about the scrutiny and attention a senator receives.

So far, Braun has struggled to raise money and build support for her presidential campaign. In the first half of this year, she trailed her competitors, raising only $250,000. Recent Federal Election Commission filings showed that her campaign had just $22,000 on hand and already was $78,000 in debt. Her campaign declined to give estimates of her fund raising for the next quarter, which ends at the end of this month.

Copyright C 2003 Deseret News Publishing Co.
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved.