We need to look at [Osama bin Laden killing ] as a great victory for the American military and intelligence personnel and for the American people. A lot of bravery and courage displayed by those folks on behalf of all of us. It's also a good day for the administration. I think President [Barack] Obama and his national security team acted on the intelligence when it came in, and they deserve a lot of credit, too.

I can tweet before going to bed at midnight or 1 and know that they're up and at 'em, and they're going to have to respond.

To choose and be so adamant about this exact location just a block or two away from 9/11, again is that knife, it feels like.

Well, I'd rather choose to be beautiful, um, because, to be beautiful it's natural. But being smart you can learn... you can learn, um, a lot of things... a lot of things from the experience... you can learn from a lot of things being smart.

When oil and gas prices went up dramatically and filled up the state treasury, I sent a large share of that revenue back where it belonged - directly to the people of Alaska.

Let me go back to a comfortable analogy for me - sports... basketball. I use it because you're naive if you don't see the national full-court press picking away right now: A good point guard drives through a full court press, protecting the ball, keeping her eye on the basket... and she knows exactly when to pass the ball so that the team can WIN.

Americans expect us to go to Washington for the right reason, and not just to mingle with the right people.