Presidential Quotes

From the beginning of the presidential nominating conventions in the 1830's really through the 1950's, you had conventions that actually did real business.

I understand personally that it is frustrating to lose presidential elections by narrow margins.

I was recruited by my wife the day after the Presidential election. My daughters were visually upset at the results and asked, 'What are we going to do?' I told my wife Christie that they were right. I had to do something. It was my time to step up and serve.

I believe an invitation from the Commission on Presidential Debates is similar to a draft notice - a civic responsibility.

I was extended secret service protection during my presidential run in 1984, when I received the most death threats ever made toward a candidate.

In a presidential campaign, you can't lie. You can't hide what you are and what you want. You can't hide what kind of President you'll be. You can't keep on talking about nothing indefinitely and committing to nothing, you can't keep running away from debate, masking the challenges.

For all the tough talk about China during the presidential debates, Romney and Obama evaded any mention of China's suspect human rights record, corruption, and rule of law. By not tackling these controversial topics, the candidates are protecting a strategic partnership with China at the expense of essential human values and beliefs.

The West Wing seems to be feeding the myth about how presidential politics are.

It is as if Clinton had called one of the most respected character witnesses in all of U.S. history to testify that the primal urge has a most distinguished presidential pedigree.

You know, I respect what Howard Dean has been able to do. It's good for our party. But I've got to tell you this: If money alone decided presidential nominations, Phil Gramm would have been nominated in '96.

The presidential candidates are offering prescriptions for everything from Iraq to healthcare, but listen closely. Their fixes are situational and incremental. Meanwhile, the underlying structural problems in American politics and government are systemic and prevent us from solving our most intractable challenges.

Every four years in the presidential election, some new precedent is broken.

The 2004 Election marks the first time in modern political history that Republican voter turnout matched Democratic turnout in a presidential election year.

I'm thankful for Sarah Palin's vice presidential bid, which taught us that Alaska is not in a box off the coast of California.

What if Barack Obama established a Presidential Advisory Committee that would meet once every couple of months, bringing together the former presidents for a conference in order to seek their collective wisdom? There is a wealth of experience in former presidents that generally goes untapped.

But presidential approval also became a surrogate measure of national unity and patriotism.

Any time you get into a presidential campaign and the stakes are so high, all candidates - they want to be in complete control whenever they can. And you can't blame them for that.

I am now a member of the private sector. I'm happy. I've got a little foundation. You never say never, but I may have had my last race and that was the Presidential race. I think that you only get one shot.

I am committed to ensure that our 2008 Republican presidential candidates forthrightly address issues of importance to the African-American community.

When we get a chance to take part in elections, I am ready to fight for leading positions, including in the presidential vote.

The vice presidential candidate tends to be a bit of an afterthought.

Analysts may be correct that the presidential election won't primarily turn on entitlements reform, but by choosing Paul Ryan as his running mate, Mitt Romney can, contrary to conventional wisdom, make it a winning issue and lay the foundation for a reform mandate when he wins.

Not a season passes without new disclosures showing Nixon's numerous attempts at criminal use of his presidential powers and in fact the scorn he held for the rule of law.

I work really long hours and work a lot and have done press tours and junkets, but there is nothing like a presidential campaign that I have experienced before...I think at one point we visited three different cities in one state in 12 hours. It's exhausting.

When I first started working in politics, as a junior aide on Walter Mondale's 1984 presidential campaign, it never occurred to me that I would one day work in the White House. There were plenty of women among the volunteers who stuffed envelopes and walked precincts. But there were fewer and fewer on each successive level of influence and access.

At the unveiling at the White House of the presidential portrait, President Bush pointed out that Hillary Clinton was the first sitting Senator in history to have her portrait hanging in the White House.

During the presidential primaries of 1940, I received a request from the Democratic National Committee to sing God Bless America before the speeches.

Sooner or later, I need to begin to do what any candidate does in a presidential race; I need to begin to win.

Of all presidential perks, the pardon power has a special significance. It is just the kind of authority that would attract the special attention of someone obsessed with himself and his own ability to influence events.

Incumbent White House parties have won 10 of the last 18 presidential elections; the odds are tight, but they favor Obama in 2012. And so gloomy Democrats, check your despair; gleeful Republicans, watch the hubris.