In terms of winning the election, it's all about turnout and how we connect with the voter as to what it means in their lives to turn out to vote, to win the House, the Senate, statehouses, state governorships and the rest.

Never confine your best work, your hopes, your dreams, the aspiration of the American people to what will be signed by George W. Bush because that is too limiting a factor.

I believe that Hillary Clinton is one of the best prepared people in our history to enter the Oval Office, with her vision, her knowledge, her experience, her strategic thinking, her connection to the American people.

It isn't as much you a spending problem as a priorities, and that is what the budget is, setting priorities. It's about timing. And it's about timing as to when make cuts, as well.

When someone challenges you, your supporters turn out.

I think about my parents all the time, especially on Sunday when I'm at Mass. My mother always said, 'We do not pray to win elections. We pray for people's health, we pray that God's will be done, we pray that we do our best. But we do not pray to win elections.'

I have always said, in my own rise in the leadership, please don't ever ask anybody to vote for me because I'm a woman.