I do not believe that politics in the long run is about individuals. It is about ideas.

Our criminal justice system is fallible. We know it, even though we don't like to admit it. It is fallible despite the best efforts of most within it to do justice. And this fallibility is, at the end of the day, the most compelling, persuasive, and winning argument against a death penalty.

While their fiscal views aren't mine, the moderates are the last reasonable voice in the current Republican Party.

I don't think Michael Bloomberg would say that his greatest skill is delivering the speech. He would say he's more of a nuts-and-bolts mayor-picking up the trash, dealing with the school system.

Imagine if investors in Wal-Mart really cared about bribery at that company's overseas operations or safety standards at its overseas manufacturing plants. If investors pulled their capital, corporate leaders would have to respond.

A year is an eternity in politics - though less than a moment in history.

I stand before you today because this vision of government as the engine of opportunity is what I believe in.