I filed a brief as a friend of the court in the U. of Michigan to keep affirmative action at the U. of Michigan, which I attended the law school. And I was one of the original sponsors of making the Martin Luther King birthday a federal holiday.

We are all so privileged to be citizens of America, and we all need to be engaged.

The people I'm honored to represent in Missouri and all over the country want leaders to address their kitchen table everyday problems.

I'm running for president because I've had enough of the oil barons, the status-quo apologists, the special-interest lobbyists running amok.

I grew up in a household that was a labor household. My dad was a Teamster and a milk truck driver. My mother was a secretary. Neither of them got through high school. But they worked hard and they gave me very, very important opportunities to go to school, get a good education.

I hope we can get back to what I call the kitchen table. Everyday issues that people are really worried about and focused on.

Politics takes patience, time, listening and endless meetings.