It doesn't take a lot of strength to hang on. It takes a lot of strength to let go.

We need to remember that politics is all about people, not programs. We shouldn't want to take the humanness out of the political arena.

You saw the exodus of many people on the business council, who resigned, who said those are not my personal values, those are not our corporate values, and those - we don't believe - are the values of our country.

In my wildest imagination, I never thought that the fifth of six children born to Helen and Buddy Watts - in a poor black neighborhood, in the poor rural community of Eufaula, Oklahoma - would someday be called Congressman.

It doesn't take a lot of strength to hang on. It takes a lot of strength to let go.

In addition, there is one title I cherish a great deal more than Congressman and that is the title of... Dad.

In 1989 when I switched from Democrat to Republican, with God as my witness, not one thing changed about what I believed about one man and one woman in a marriage or about diversity of color. That's a good thing.