“Our seniors’ retirement should never rely on the bull of political promises or the bear of the market.”

I thought in this country, the best social program was a job. Yet minimum wage jobs arent paying enough to keep families out of poverty

I would say that in some ways George Mitchell is kind of an old fashioned guy, in terms of these basic values, but he was a very modern person, encouraging, he was not only accepting but he was actually encouraging.

Every vote counts and every vote must be counted

I knew of Senator [George] Mitchell because he was very close friends with who was soon to be the senior senator, Paul Sarbanes. Paul Sarbanes and George Mitchell were kind of pals together.

George [Mitchell] introduced the idea that we’d go on a retreat [and] to really regularize caucuses. He’s the one who had I think [Tom] Daschle become the Democratic Policy Committee chairman, so I think it lived through with Tom.

College is part of the American dream. It shouldnt be part of a financial nightmare for families

My own father had died of Alzheimer’s. George [Mitchell] had been also, I think, deeply moved by a similar tragedy.

America is not a melting pot. It is a sizzling cauldron.

I am emphatically against the privatization of Social Security. It is going to hurt millions of American women, American families and ultimately the whole country

Martha Pope herself is a legend within the institution, and he was enormously supportive. And me and the women candidates.

We must be careful that the people who make $5,000 a year are not pitted against those that make $25,000 a year by those who make $900,000.

Community colleges are one of Americas great social inventions a gateway to the future for first time students looking for an affordable college education, and for mid-career students looking to get ahead in the workplace.

Senator Paul Sarbanes really was a big help to me. He was so well known and so well respected, and he said, “Give her a chance here.” And he showed me the ways of power and the corridors of power, [as did] Bob Byrd. [They] helped with [my] committee assignments.

A pregnant woman facing the most dire circumstances must be able to count on her doctor to do what is medically necessary to protect her from serious physical harm.

I think, though, with that whole sense of integrity and a lot of things that have been going on, the shared leadership rather than the titular head.

I didn’t know how we were going to get jobs out of NAFTA, but I tend to be suspicious of these things, like NAFTAs and WTOs and so on.