Being the Republican front-runner was three of the most exciting hours of my entire life. I've come to grips with it, and the only lasting effect is that I refuse to go on a stage that has more than one podium on it.

Whether you agree or disagree with Barack Obama, he is getting some things done, though not in the way most Americans would prefer or what is actually best for them.

I am also the product of a place called Paint Creek. Doesn't have a zip code. It's too small to be called a town along the rolling plains of Texas. We grew dryland cotton and wheat, and when I wasn't farming or attending Paint Creek Rural School, I was generally over at Troop 48 working on my Eagle Scout award.

Americans want government that is leaner, more efficient, and less intrusive into their personal lives.

Spreading the wealth punishes success while setting America on course for a greater dependency on government.

Dark economic clouds are dissipating into an emerging blue sky of opportunity.

It is through states that the American people get the job done every day, often in spite of a deeply flawed bureaucratic federal government.