My parents were divorced when I was a young teenager, and I was raised by a single mother after that. So, I understand the difficulties that families have. I understand single parenting.

I do support a constitutional amendment on marriage between a man and a woman, but I would not be going into the states to overturn their state law.

This is an effort to have government coerce, force speech and behavior. And it's being pushed and advocated by the gay community. This is their ultimate goal. It's to not allow for diversity of opinion on this issue, because they don't want to be celebrated, they want to force everyone to not only agree with them but also have to finance their agenda.

And I took a walk and I just went to prayer and I said Lord, what would you have me do in the Minnesota state senate? And just through prayer I knew that I was to introduce the marriage amendment in Minnesota.

It isn't that I was born thinking I had to be president. I'm getting a lot of encouragement to run from people across the country. I don't believe this is a rash decision.

Without a doubt, absolutely, a woman will be a president, and probably sooner rather than later. I am excited about that, and if what I did serves as a steppingstone for another woman down the course, I am very grateful to have had that chance.

My heart really softens when I think about mothering because the greatest lessons that I've learned in life have been as a mother.