In politics, it's very theatrical. There’s a lot of stage craft. The campaign is trying to tell a story that they want people to believe in, and candidates are playing the role, like actors, by a creative personae that people will be attracted to.

When you're creating new roles out of scratch in my opinion working with the actors is a great asset. You can learn a lot from that.

My jobs on campaigns were pretty low on the totem pole - I was an advance man.

The checks and balances is a way to prevent government from either devolving into an autocratic tyranny or an autocratic mob mentality.

You just have to re-wire your brain when you’re shifting from the stage to the screen, or the silver screen or the HD flat screen.

Is self-interest a bad thing? We want our leaders to be pure and good, but at the same time we want them to be effective, and to be effective you often have to be ruthless and not bound by ideology or the same morals that we pretend to hold ourselves to.

If you work hard and play by the rules, you'll have a better life than your parents did, and your children will have a better life than you did.