The lack of fiscal responsibility is one of the main reasons I finally left my old Party.

Well, usually when you talk about a mandate, you're talking about an overwhelming win. I don't think by any measurement the 2004 election was an overwhelming win.

Let me ask you: Should only children of the wealthy have access to quality early education? Should only children of the wealthy have access to a college degree? The answer - the only answer - is: no.

Certainly the Republican Party changed and I never changed, as I became an independent my values never changed whether it's on fiscal responsibility, environment or using government tools to help the less fortunate.

I do believe that 2016 is going to be a great year for Democrats... because we are right on the key issues.

As a former Republican, I represent a group of Americans who all too often have no one to speak for them. This group doesn't necessarily have a name. We've been called 'moderates,' but that term can be misleading.

American education is still the wonder of the world, and we must open the schoolhouse doors, not close them.