The Tea Party isolated Mitt Romney from mainstream voters, linking him to a rabid ideology that he could not shake as he desperately tried to move to the middle in the closing weeks of the campaign. Lesson: The loudest voices don't often command the votes needed to win in November.

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

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

In 2007, when I was governor of New York, I proposed that our state once again permit undocumented immigrants to obtain a driver's license. To say the proposal lit a firestorm in the political arena is an understatement.

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.

To every New Yorker - and to all those who believed in what I tried to stand for - I sincerely apologize.