To win in November, Republican candidates must show they are in touch with voter concerns about growth, jobs, paychecks, government spending and debt. The only way to do this is by offering specific, persuasive ideas.

If we do with Latinos what we did with African-Americans, Republicans and conservatives will be doomed.

Our health-care issues is another big structural drag. All of these need to be dealt with if we're going to keep the American economy the most dynamic and flexible in the world.

I think if you talk to my colleagues, I was less than a fearsome individual.

If you really want to diminish a candidate, depict him as the foil of his handler. This is as old in American politics as politics itself.

71 percent of the American people think that the federal government should take no more than 20 percent of anybody's paycheck no matter how much they make.

I would have strong opinions and be prepared to argue my case, but if you talk to my colleagues, I think you'd find they consider me the jokester, the informal mayor of the West Wing.