It was easy for Sanford to have a bully pulpit as governor. It's another thing to be in the trenches, having to face leadership, and say, 'No, that's not a conservative position, that's not what we're doing.'
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
We worked very well with Mark Sanford. We stood shoulder to shoulder fighting for the principles that we believe in. But another person that stood there as well was a legislator, State Senator Larry Grooms.
Every governor's got tough choices to make.
The job of a leader, the job of a governor, the job of a president, is to get the people in the room and bang enough heads together and rub enough arms and cajole enough to have them put the country and the state's greater interest ahead of their own personal partisan interest. That's what we did in New Jersey and that's the model for America.
You know, my dad served in the President's Cabinet after his time as a governor. He told me he enjoyed being governor a lot more. Now, I understand why. If I do my job well, I can make a difference in people's lives and I can help our children realize their dreams.
We were elected to serve our districts, and that demands putting bygones aside. That's what leadership's all about.
The conservative movement today is like that tall ship with its proud captain: strong, accomplished but veering off course into the dangerous and uncharted waters of big government republicanism.
I'm a conservative, and I'm a compassionate conservative. And I think it's important that Florida continues to move in that direction.
I acted on my core beliefs on social issues as governor.
People deserve to see a governor who is hustling every day.
It was very constraining, much more than I ever would have thought, to run for governor.