I was a Republican and I saw the activists and what they were doing, it was intolerable to me.

I'll continue to fight for school choice and home schooling. Do I believe in accountability? You bet I do.

Can you even imagine not hugging?

I'm here tonight, not as a Republican, not as a Democrat, but as an optimistic American who understands that we must come together behind the one man who can lead the way forward in these challenging times: my president, our president, Barack Obama!

I'm pro-life. I'm pro-gun. I'm pro-family. And I'm pro-business.

As a former lifelong Republican, it pains me to tell you that today's Republicans - and their standard-bearers, Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan - just aren't up to the task. They're beholden to 'my way or the highway' bullies, indebted to billionaires who bankroll ads and allergic to the very idea of compromise.

When I was a Republican governor, he was obviously a Democratic president, but on issue after issue after issue, President Obama was very helpful to us in education, in the environment, with the handling of the BP oil spill.