I'm still very connected to my family, to the world I grew up in. I understand what it means to be afraid that you can't pay a doctor's bill. Or to have to make the choice between buying a band uniform for a seventh-grader and making the insurance payment on time. That will never leave me. It was how I lived until I was well into my adult years.

It's a simple idea: We all do better when we work together and invest in our future.

Middle class America is acutely aware of how bad this economy is, and it is going to demand changes. I don't think politicians can afford to be complacent.

Women tend to vote the economic interests of their families and to speak out on family economic issues. For men, there's often much more focus on the idea of personal failure: "If I'm not winning this great economic game, it must be my fault."

The credit card companies have put the loan sharks out of business.

If you want to find out how strong a company's ethics are, don't listen to what its people say, watch what they do.

I think having a fighter in the lead, a female fighter in the lead, is exactly what America needs.