Let's take energy, for instance. I understand that in some industries, the input cost of energy is a major factor in whether an industry is going to locate in the United States or go elsewhere. So, when, at Bain Capital, we started a new steel company called Steel Dynamics in Indiana, the cost of energy was a very important factor to the success of that enterprise.

I could have possibly beaten Senator McCain in the primary. Then I could have been the candidate who lost to Barack Obama.

I'm not going to say to Putin that he'll get more flexibility after the election. After the election he'll get more backbone.

When the President is making it harder to mine coal, to use coal, to take advantage of our gas resources, to make it harder to get our oil resources - all those things combine to make our cost of energy higher than it needs to be, and it drives away enterprises from this country. It sends it to places that have lower-cost energy.

It's so critical that we make America once again the most attractive place in the world to start businesses, to build jobs, to grow the economy. And that's not going to happen by just hiring teachers.

I went to a number of women's groups and said, "Can you help us find folks," and they brought us whole binders full of women.

There were a couple of times I wondered whether I was going to get a pink slip.