TruthandHope.org PAC was founded in 2004 & aired independent grassroots television & radio ads in support of Governor Dean as he sought the Democratic nomination for President. It's media campaign began before the votes in Washington & Maine, and ran through Super Tuesday & beyond. Governor Dean had suspended his campaign, after finishing third in Wisconsin, but was encouraging the accumulation of delegates in order to give greater weight to the Progressive platform & his supporters at the 2004 convention. TruthandHope.Org aired it's first television ad in Gov Dean's home state of Vermont leading up the the Super Tuesday vote, and despite being behind in the polls Gov Dean won a significant victory in Vermont that night & thanked TruthandHope.org on CNN, stating that we had continued to campaign for him. The next day Roy Neel, the DeanforAmerica campaign chair sent an email to their donor list thanking Vermont & thanking TruthandHope.Org.
The founder of TruthandHope.Org is Eugene Hedlund, a mortgage banker in Southern California. Before joining the mortgage industry, he was an executive at an advertising agency, who sculpted & helped coordinate nationwide advertising campaigns. Eugene was a lifelong Republican, who supported John McCain in 2000, and George W. Bush in the general election. After witnessing how the current administration took advantage of the tragedy of September 11, 2001, sank our economy with excessive tax cuts & unfunded mandates and most importantly sent our soldiers to war based on lies, he knew we needed a change & that the upcoming election would be the most important crossroads for our country in memory. After spending time in Iowa on the ground in support of Governor Dean & witnessing the defeat in the Iowa caucus & then the loss in the New Hampshire Primary, Eugene considered what more he could do. So he called upon his experience in media campaigns from the past & formed TruthandHope.Org PAC.
After a private meeting in Washington DC with other top Dean supporters with the Governor & Senator Kerry (just before Dean was to endorse Kerry that afternoon), Eugene agreed to support the Kerry campaign, as the need for change had not altered. TruthandHope.org PAC went on to create & air another nine television ads during the general election. It raised nearly $500,000 for these efforrts and some of it's general election ads were featured in reports nationwide, including on ABC news with Peter Jennings.
