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A campaign is about defining who you are - your vision and your opponent's vision.

Sometimes you have to subordinate strategic considerations to tactical needs.

The essence of strategy is choosing what not to do.

There are many elements to a campaign. Leadership is number one. Everything else is number two.

I believe that the idea of strategic beliefs may be more important than strategic planning when thinking about how you keep the long view.

One of the things I learned in the military is sometimes you don't know what mistakes you make for a long time. But as you go through a campaign, there's lots of decision points you make, and you don't know whether those are gonna be the right decision points or not.

Every great political campaign rewrites the rules; devising a new way to win is what gives campaigns a comparative advantage against their foes.

Strategy requires thought, tactics require observation.

Campaigns often make standing on principle the highest of virtues - and listening to your opponents a sure sign of weakness. It's the virtual opposite of what it takes to succeed in office. Squaring the circle takes a powerful combination of skills. But presidents who can campaign and compromise are generally the most successful.

The essence of strategy is that you must set limits on what you're trying to accomplish.