I don't know if anybody has moved up the ladder more quickly than I have.

I was taught to respect everyone for the simple reason that we're all God's children. I was taught, in the words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.... to judge a man not by the color of his skin, but by the content of his character. And I was taught that character...is simply doing what's right when nobody's looking.

Good policy makes good politics and what I've done has been good politics.

There's a whole lot more to the African-American community than entertainment and sports.

I'm secure in who I am. I don't need the validation of those that would say, you have to be a certain thing in order to be accepted. I'm comfortable going against the grain if I need to.

My views on everything from welfare to a balanced budget to affirmative action can be traced to what Buddy and Helen Watts taught me as a young boy growing up poor but proud in Eufaula.

We have seen the Democrat solution to an energy crisis; it's called California.