When I arrived in the Senate, the moderate so-called Rockefeller Republicans held the balance of power.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
There was a Republican majority of the Senate, and it tempered the nature of the nominations being made.
I ran for office originally as part of this Tea Party Movement because we were upset with Republicans who've doubled the debt. We were upset with Republicans that bailed out the banks.
I look at the Senior Al Gore that I had the chance to serve in the Senate with. A great human being. He went down to defeat to this right wing bunch back at the time.
I worked in the Senate in the 1970s. I worked for the Labor, Public Welfare Committee, and we had Ted Kennedy and my old boss, Bill Hathaway, and Walter Mondale.
I was very political when JFK ran.
I was entirely comfortable reaching across the Senate aisle to work with Democrats.
I had a reputation of being somewhat moderate, partly, I think, because I wasn't a 'bomb thrower' like some of my conservative colleagues, and partly because I got along with people all across the political spectrum.
I was a very, very good congressman.
I'm president of the Senate. I'm not a neophyte when it comes to understanding political alignments and misalignments.
My tenure in the Senate was really as an independent and whichever, regardless of party label.