Thank you for that big Rocky Top welcome and for inviting me out here today.

You know, during my years in the Army, I was sent to military bases all over the world. But while you can take a man out of the South, you can never take the South out of a man.

And it's great to be back home.

I'm an Arkansan. And I don't know how the Razorbacks would feel about this -- but when in Tennessee, and with a bunch of Vol fans, there's only one thing to shout out. And that's "Go Big Orange."

I don't know about you, but I have a feeling that the Vols are going to finish strong this season. I know that I'll be rooting for you.

But I've got to tell you, there's one man who I haven't spent much time rooting for -- and that's our President, George W. Bush.

George Bush has spent three years squandering everything we worked so hard to build.

Back in the 2000 campaign, he said he was going to create jobs ...

He's lost them.

He said he was going to protect our environment ...

He's polluted it.

He said he was going to leave no child behind ...

Our schools are cash-starved, overcrowded, and failing.

He's says he believes in freedom ...

But he appointed an Attorney General who spends his days taking our freedoms away.

He said he was going to have a humble foreign policy ...

He's alienated nearly every one of our allies.

He said he was going to bring fiscal responsibility to Washington...

He's turned record surpluses into record deficits.

For three long years, President Bush has taken our country in one direction: the wrong direction. As they say down in Texas, that man is all hat and no cattle.

But I'm not running to bash George Bush - I'm running to replace him.

We need a president who can bring a lifetime of leadership experience to put America back on top again.

Someone who's been in the trenches and on the frontlines.

Someone who doesn't just talk the talk, but walks the walk.

I walked the walk every day as an officer in the United States Army.

I fought to make sure that our soldiers had top-notch health care. That their children had first-class schools and access to Headstart. That they had affordable housing and time with their families.

And no matter what challenge we faced, one thing was always true:

With the right plan, hard-working troops and good leadership, you can turn any situation around.

I'm running for president to turn America around.

That's what I've been talking about all week -- My Turnaround Plan for America. A plan to tackle our toughest domestic challenges and get our country moving forward again.

To increase family income by $3,000.

To clean up the environment and prevent 100,000 premature deaths by 2020.

To send an additional one million Americans to college.

To lift two million children out of poverty.

And today, I want to talk to you about my plan to turn around health care in America. My plan will give 30 million more Americans access to health insurance.

When George W. Bush took office, he said that health care would be one of his top priorities.

He promised that he'd fix America's health care system real good.

Well, he did.

Today, thanks to George Bush, our health care system's in a real fix.

In just the past three years, an additional 3.8 million Americans have been added to the ranks of the uninsured. Today, 44 million Americans go without health insurance every single day - 9 million of them children. And health care costs continue to go up by double digits.

Think about it: What's the point of having the best health care system in the world if so many people can't even use it?

President Bush told us that he was a compassionate conservative. Well, if that's true, he certainly has a strange way of showing his compassion. Someone ought to tell him that the Hippocratic Oath is not a license to practice hypocrisy.

We can do better. I've got a health care plan to turn this around.

My plan has three pillars:

First, one of the great benefits about the health care I had in the Army was that it emphasized prevention every step of the way - from annual physicals, to cholesterol screenings, to routine check-ups. My health care plan gives all Americans those same benefits. It promotes prevention and diagnosis by ensuring that all Americans have access to services that diagnose diseases early, improve health, and constrain long-term costs.

Second, my plan provides access to affordable health insurance for every single American, and provides coverage for every single American child up to the age of 22. It will give those without access to job-based coverage the chance to purchase insurance through the same system that covers Members of the United States Congress.

Third, my plan gives extra support to our most vulnerable citizens. It provides assistance to low-income families and workers in between jobs, and expands health care options for America's reservists and veterans.

This is an ambitious plan. But we can't afford anything less. We can't afford to have America's children go without vaccinations and checkups. We can't afford to have America's seniors go without hospital services. And we can't afford to have a single American citizen whose only access to medical care is at the emergency room.

I believe we can do better.

And that's why I'm running for President. Together, we're going to turn American around.

Thank you.

» Read Clark's Health Care Plan
» Read Clark's Turnaround Pledge (PDF)
» State by State Breakdown of Goals