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What works in Washington, D.C. or New York City oftentimes doesn't work out in Billings, Montana, or elsewhere in the country.

Sometimes you've got to make a hard decision, and there's a real reluctance to make hard decisions in Washington.

I'm not a Washington person.

I'm not a career politician, so the ways of Washington may be a little obscure to me.

Our nation is too different, too diverse to say that what works in Massachusetts is somehow going to be grabbed by the federal government, usurping the power of states and imposing a one-size-fits-all plan on the nation. That will not work.

Washington is unpredictable these days.

I don't think I'm really open to having Washington change me.

We need a smaller, leaner Washington. It won't happen if we raise taxes without any coinciding reform and serious slashing of spending.

And a tiny number of people in a few states make these decisions, and we're left with these options that are increasingly not attractive to the American people.

Ultimately, you change the culture in Washington only one way, and it's one election at a time, with the character of the people you send.