BOSTON (AP) - Republican Mitt Romney began his drive for the presidency in earnest Monday, gathering his national fundraisers in Boston and having them call friends and colleagues in a push to raise the first of an estimated $100 million this year. The former Massachusetts governor hoped the glitzy event at the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center will help establish him as a credible challenger for the 2008 Republican nomination.
A four-screen projection TV system hung from the center of a ceiling, displaying pictures that included Romney in the Oval Office and at the presidential lectern.
"You guys today are my hope. I got to be honest with you. What you're doing is going to make all the difference in the world," Romney told the callers.
Romney said he was considering running to create "a new American Dream." He said he feared for the world his grandchildren will inherit, and said the American Dream of a home in the suburbs "just doesn't cut it."
Besides the "National Call Day" event, Romney also sought over the weekend to shore up his support among evangelicals who have been dismayed to learn that he ran as a moderate for the U.S. Senate in as well as for Massachusetts governor in 2002.
He now is staunchly opposed to gay marriage, and says he supports a state-by-state approach to abortion rights.
"Now, I wasn't always a Ronald Reagan conservative. Neither was Ronald Reagan, by the way. And perhaps some in this room have had the opportunity to listen, learn, and benefit from life's experience—and to grow in wisdom, as I have," Romney said at a conservative gathering in Sea Island, Ga.
"My life experience convinced me that Ronald Reagan was right. I'm a conservative that gets the job done. And you don't just have to take my word for it, you can just look at my record," he added.
While Romney's presidential committee is still labeled "exploratory," he and his staff have made it clear they are in the race to win.
In e-mails sent last week, two of Romney's sons estimated he would need to raise $100 million to be among the "serious contenders" for the nomination. The stated goal on Monday was $1 million—some of which Romney will need just to pay for the event. Many of the callers, however, paid their own travel expenses.
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NEW YORK (AP)—Civil rights activist Al Sharpton said Monday he is seriously considering a run for president.
"I don't hear any reason not to," Sharpton, 52, said in an interview during an urban affairs conference sponsored by another civil rights leader, the Rev. Jesse Jackson.
"If we're talking about the urban agenda, can you tell me anybody else in the field who's representing that right now?" Sharpton asked. "We clearly have a reason to run, and whether we do it or not we'll see over the next couple of months."
Sharpton mounted a long-shot bid for the White House in 2004, in which his wit and fiery denunciation of President Bush often enlivened Democratic primary debates. He dropped out of the race after losing several state primaries and endorsed the eventual nominee, Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry.
Despite widespread interest in the likely candidacy of another influential black Democrat, Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, Sharpton said he's heard little substantive discussion of issues that might influence his decision about running.
"Right now we're hearing a lot of media razzle dazzle," Sharpton said. "I'm not hearing a lot of meat, or a lot of content. I think when the meat hits the fire, we'll find out if it's just fat or if there's some real meat there."
Sharpton said the candidate who impressed him most so far was former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards, who has made poverty the central issue of his campaign.
Sharpton ran for the Senate from New York in 1988, 1992 and 1994, and ran for New York City mayor in 1997.
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ORANGEBURG, S.C. (AP)—Democrats will hold the first debate of the 2008 campaign on April 26, 2007 in South Carolina.
The hour and a half debate will be held at South Carolina State University, a historically black college, and will be televised by MSNBC, state party officials said Monday.
South Carolina was selected as an early voting state in a move intended to add racial and geographic diversity to the early voting.
The university has a storied history in the civil rights movement. On Feb. 8, 1968, three people were killed and 27 injured after the South Carolina Highway Patrol fired on protesters demonstrating against segregation, an event known as the Orangeburg Massacre.
South Carolina's GOP plans its first debate May 15 at the University of South Carolina's Koger Center in Columbia.
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Associated Press Writers Beth Fouhy in New York and Jim Davenport in South Carolina contributed to this report.
