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I lost my election because of my campaign, not because of what anyone else did.

In 2006 it was a horrible election year, and, you know, I lost. But I lost because I continued to be a constant conservative, and the last six years I was someone who was a national figure in the sense that I was the third ranking Republican in leadership and I had just run President Bush's campaign in Pennsylvania.

I am a registered Democrat and two-time unsuccessful candidate for office.

I'm no longer just a candidate. I'm the President. I know what it means to send young Americans into battle, for I have held in my arms the mothers and fathers of those who didn't return. I've shared the pain of families who've lost their homes, and the frustration of workers who've lost their jobs.

If you're not the establishment candidate, they're going to attack you some ways.

I've accepted that I was a failure in politics. I was not qualified for the job.

When I first ran for governor, the political class and party leaders opposed me with great vigor, and some even said if I won the primary they would never vote for me. But the voters had other ideas, and they are the only ones who count.

I worked for a lot of candidates, in tough campaigns that lost. Most of my candidates lost until Bill Clinton. There was always a point where you look in their eyes and they knew it was over. And there was never that point with Clinton. He never quit. He never gave up.

I think I was identified as a failed president because I wasn't re-elected.

I'm such a failed politician that all of my rivals have disappeared, on both sides.