Now we're visible as pretty ordinary, lawn-mowing, PTA kind of people.

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And with the PTA still in force, Kishali Pinto-Jayawardena, a legal activist, argued in her newspaper column, it was a case of Tweedledee going but Tweedledum remaining.

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And somehow despite everything that's going on in your lives, military families still find the time to serve others -- coaching Little League, running the PTA, making Christmas special for kids with Toys for Tots, volunteering at churches and hospitals, mentoring young people, being role models in your own right.

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And that's painful and it's heartbreaking. (Applause.) And yet you continue, leading by the force of the arguments you make, and by the power of the example that you set in your own lives -- as parents and friends, as PTA members and church members, as advocates and leaders in your communities.

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She's a self-described "hockey mom, " and PTA member who can connect with voters.

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Government can build the best schools, with the best teachers -- but we can't run the PTA, or chaperone those field trips, or mentor those kids after school, or have them sit down and do their homework at night.

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We get moms who are the heads of their PTA, running the soccer leagues or head of the local non-profit.

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"I've never done anything like this before - I think the nearest thing is when I organised a PTA event, " said Catherine.

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