Dear Candidates,

You are presented with a unique privilege in the political history of our country. One of you will be the FIRST...the first candidate of a major national party who will not be a white male of European heritage.

That is a wonderful thing...and long overdue.

Please understand that I write to you as a fan....Yes, I voted for one of you over the other...but I was conflicted about it, though I now believe even more strongly that I made the right choice...but which of you that was/is isn't really important for the purposes of this communication.

The number one priority of those who voted for EITHER of you is to insure that the policies of the current incumbent in the White House are brought to a hasty conclusion and a move in a new direction is both charted and carried out, not with undo haste, but without ANY real delay.

Recently, statements made by both of your camps create the potential for undermining all that you and we hope to accomplish when the next President is elected.

Senator Clinton, you have repeatedly asserted what you believe "the Republicans will say" about Senator Obama as though you completely agree with those statements. In the world of international relations that would be called "providing aid and comfort to the enemy."

Senator Obama, today, news sources carry an allegation from your camp that Senator Clinton is "John McCain Light." Regardless of your intentions, such a statement insinuates that in a one-on-one contest, Senator Clinton would be considered a pale imitation of Senator McCain, the lesser of the two candidates.

Let me say this as clearly as I can. That kind of politics will not win this election, indeed, it puts the election of EITHER of you at great risk. If Governor Dean will not call the two of you out on these tactics, you can rest assured the American People will. DON'T SCREW THIS UP...WE BEG YOU.

Further...here are a few things, I personally suggest you avoid, because they are the tactics of demagogues:

1. Fear-based attacks on your opponent. Want to know something? I don't care what you think about your opponent, I care about what you want to do for this country. Tell me how your ideas differ...specifically. Tell me how you intend to carry out your vision for restoring our international standing, or for restoring the strength of the middle class, or for shoring up our crumbling infrastructure, or for reforming our morally bankrupt health care and financial services industries. DON'T try to make me afraid of your opponent...that just makes me think that YOU are afraid people will take him/her seriously. Those are the morally bankrupt politics of Rove and Bush.

2. Winning at all cost strategies. The scorched earth take no prisoners politics of the 90's led to the wholesale disenfranchisement of tens of millions of Americans who found that they detested all of the candidates and would not participate in a system that FORCED them by its pervasive use of invective and mendacity to choose the lesser of two evils. The politics of change--which you both say you espouse--is premised on bringing those millions back into the political system. Continue on your current path and they will stay home...history's lesson there is cruel.

3. Relying on super delegates. Only two times in our history have a majority of the American people voted for one person only to have another become the President. In one instance, a compromise in the House of Representatives gave birth to Jim Crow and generations of Americans were thrown to the wolves of prejudice and hate. In the second instance, a neo-fascist regime took advantage of one of the greatest tragedies ever to strike American soil to begin two wars, trample on the constitution, mortgage our children's future, and label reasoned debate and disagreement treasonous. Do not turn this nomination into another power play among the elite. Commit right now to the idea that the super delegates' votes cannot reverse the outcome of a committed delegates' vote. Super delegates were created to insure that the party faithful are present for debate and participation in the platform and other key issues. They were not created so that the elite of the party could determine the party's nominee.

It is my fervent hope that both of you will see the folly of destroying the other. We can no longer be part of a system where a candidate can smear and attack all the way to a nomination and they say "I respect Senator X and look forward to working with him/her to achieve our common goals."

Just look what participating in that kind of soul-destroying fight did to John McCain.