Let us get on with creating the democratic and pluralistic society that we say we are.

There was a whole group that really welcomed me: George Mitchell was one, Ted Kennedy, Chris Dodd, the reformers were really delighted to see me. So if you were one of those squeaky clean, shiny bright, let's reform the world, you were very glad to see Barb Mikulski, and George Mitchell was in that category.

My own father had died of Alzheimer's. George [Mitchell] had been also, I think, deeply moved by a similar tragedy.

Senator [George] Mitchell is a man of many talents and he's swift on his feet, but one would not think of him as 'dancing with the stars.' And we had this great rock 'n' roll fund raiser.

I wanted to [share] what a gracious kind of guy George Mitchell was.

I think, though, with that whole sense of integrity and a lot of things that have been going on, the shared leadership rather than the titular head.

I always said that though I was the first, I wanted to be the first of many.