Women are leaders everywhere you look - from the CEO who runs a Fortune 500 company to the housewife who raises her children and heads her household. Our country was built by strong women and we will continue to break down walls and defy stereotypes.

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.

If you're talking about competing with countries in the industrialized, developed world, they don't have healthcare costs. Their societies have that as a priority. Here in America, we won't have the same kind of healthcare availability because it's still a private sector initiative. But that's O.K. because it's facilitated to be made more affordable in a public way.

The fact is that a lot of the spending increases came during the Bush administration. Two unpaid for wars we got ourselves engaged in. A prescription drug plan that added enormous amounts to our spending, and the tax cuts at the high end that did not create jobs and create revenue coming.

Having five children in six years is the best training in the world for Speaker of the House.

Women have come a long way, but it never fails to sadden me when I see younger women saying we have to overcome some obstacles.

The more women we elect to public office, the more wholesome the whole process will be, whether it's government, politics, whatever.