The forces that divide us are not as strong as those that unite us.

The Supreme Court nominations [example]. I mean, the fact that Mitch McConnell, the leader of the Republicans, was able to just stop a nomination almost a year before the next election and really not pay a political price for it, that's a sign that the incentives for politicians in this town to be so sharply partisan have gotten so outta hand that we're weakening ourselves.

We reject all efforts to denigrate the religious beliefs of others.

The other reason might be that you want to talk to voters when you've got seven primaries in seven days. Understand what's happened in this race - where we campaign actively in a state, and voters have the chance to see me directly, they check under the hood, and they kick the tires, when we don't have as much time.

I know my country has not perfected itself. At times, we've struggled to keep the promise of liberty and equality for all of our people. We've made our share of mistakes, and there are times when our actions around the world have not lived up to our best intentions.

Get involved in an issue that you're passionate about. It almost doesn't matter what it is ... We give too much of our power away, to the professional politicians, to the lobbyists, to cynicism. And our democracy suffers as a result.

We can't wait for Congress to do its job. So where they won't act, I will.