Why am I running for president? Well, my wife, Cindy, says it is because I sustainedseveral severe blows to the head in prison camp.

I am fully prepared to be commander in chief... I don't need on-the-job training.

But please know, whether you believe campaign contributions are speech or property, that I learned to love very dearly the right of free expression when I lived without that freedom for a while a long time ago.

I will not agree to have this bill [to repeal DADT ] go forward, because our economy is in the tank.

I will follow Osama bin Laden to the gates of hell.

It is illegal for children to purchase tobacco in every state in the country. And in every state ... tobacco companies have invested enormous sums of money and time to encourage widespread lawbreaking.

I respect Sarah Palin. I appreciate her and her husband enormously. I think she will continue to play a major role in the future of the Republican Party.