Carol Moseley Braun

Carol Moseley Braun

Carol Moseley Braun has served her country as a United States Senator (1992-98) and U.S. Ambassador (1999-2001), as well as County Executive Officer, State Representative, and Assistant U.S. Attorney. When she won her Senate seat in 1992, Moseley Braun became the first female senator from Illinois, the first female African-American senator and the first African-American Democratic senator.

In the Senate, Moseley Braun was a consistent and strong voice for equal opportunity, the prevention of discrimination on the basis of race, gender or sexual orientation, reproductive freedom, and social and economic justice. She is an advocate of diversity and has consistently worked to build an inclusive society.

Moseley Braun received her Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Illinois in 1969, and her law degree in 1972 from the University of Chicago. She joined the United States Attorney's office in Chicago in 1973.

Since Moseley Braun's return in 2001 from her ambassadorial posting to New Zealand, she has taught law and political science at Morris Brown College and DePaul University, along with a business law practice and business consultancy in Chicago. A true friend of women's rights, Moseley Braun returns to the national forum animated by a sense of duty to the nation and a patriotic desire to serve.

Howard Dean

Howard Dean

Howard Dean served as the Governor of Vermont for 11 years. Under his leadership, Vermont achieved a balanced budget, guaranteed health insurance to nearly every child in the state, preserved precious natural resources and guaranteed equal rights to every citizen.

A physician who previously shared a medical practice with his wife, Dean received his B.A. from Yale University in 1971 and his medical degree from Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City in 1978. He served in the Vermont House from 1982 to 1986, was elected lieutenant governor in 1986, and became governor in 1991 with the death of then-Governor Richard Snelling.

During the Dean tenure, more than 41,000 new jobs were created, the state's minimum wage was raised twice and incentive programs were expanded to help downtowns attract new businesses. Dean worked to preserve Vermont's natural resources, strengthened health coverage in the state, increased the number of women and minorities in judgeships and other prominent positions, cracked down on domestic violence and put Vermont in the forefront for child support collections. Most notably, Dean signed legislation to grant gay and lesbian couples the right to enter into civil unions, the first law of its kind in the U.S.

Dennis Kucinich

Dennis Kucinich

Dennis Kucinich first came to national prominence in 1977 when he was elected mayor of Cleveland at age 31 -- the youngest person ever elected to lead a major American city. He served in the Ohio state senate from 1994-1996 and is now in his fourth term in the U.S. House.

As the chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus (which is the largest congressional caucus), Kucinich has promoted a national health care system, the preservation of Social Security, increased Unemployment Insurance benefits, and the establishment of wholesale cost-based rates for electricity, natural gas and home heating oil.

In his district, Kucinich has been recognized by the Greater Cleveland AFL-CIO as a tireless advocate for the social and economic interests of his community. He has also been recognized for his advocacy of global human rights.

On the eve of the WTO's Seattle conference, Kucinich organized 114 Democrats to help convince President Clinton to seek human rights, workers rights and environmental quality principles as preconditions in all U.S. trade agreements. He marched in Seattle, protesting WTO policies, and in Washington D.C., challenging the IMF. Kucinich advocates the creation of a Department of Peace, and spoke at the February 2003 anti-war rally in New York City.

Al Sharpton

Al Sharpton

Al Sharpton was an ordained minister by the age of 10. He formally entered politics in 1978 as the first African American to run for a seat in the New York state senate. For decades, Sharpton has led an ongoing battle against economic injustice, political inequity and corporate racism.

In 1991 Sharpton founded the National Action Network, a civil rights organization that seeks political empowerment for the disenfranchised. In 1997 Sharpton made an impressive showing in New York City's Democratic mayoral primary, winning 32 percent of the vote.

Over the last five years, Sharpton has risen as a pivotal spokesperson against police brutality in the U.S. He has met with national leaders to discuss racial profiling and police brutality, including former United States Attorney General Janet Reno. Thanks to his tireless efforts for civil liberty, community empowerment, and economic equality, Time Magazine named him the most important black leader in the city of New York (March 2000).

Just recently, Sharpton stepped into the international political fray by helping to expose the practice of modern day slavery in Sudan, East Africa and around other parts of the continent. Back in the U.S., Sharpton is calling for three constitutional amendments guaranteeing the right to vote, the right to health care and the right to education.